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Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide (ISSN 1096-7400)/No. 431/January-March 2003.
Contents
1.
What Happened?
(December 28—January 3)
6
2.
Covenant Primer
(January 4-10)
14
3.
"All Future Generations"
(January 11-17)
22
4.
An Everlasting Covenant
(January 18-24)
30
5.
Children of the Promise
(January 25-31)
38
6.
Abraham's Seed
(February 1-7)
46
7.
Covenant at Sinai
(February 8-14)
56
8.
Covenant Law
(February 15-21)
64
9.
The Covenant Sign
(February 22-28)
72
10.
The New Covenant
(March 1-7)
80
11.
New-Covenant Sanctuary
(March 8-14)
88
12.
Covenant Faith
(March 15-21)
96
13.
The New-Covenant Life
(March 22-28)
104
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The Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide is prepared by the Office of the Adult Bible
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Check your local Adventist
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1TOR
RVIEW
The Covenant
I
n
1588, a young English woman (seven-months pregnant) looked
out over the sea, and what she saw—the Spanish Armada, with 130
heavily armed ships planning to invade the island—so frightened
her that she went into premature labor, the midwife being fear.
Fear, in fact, was an apt metaphor for her child, Thomas Hobbes,
who became one of Europe's greatest political theorists. Living at
a time when England had been wracked by civil war and endless
religious violence, Hobbes wrote that humankind, without a strong,
all-encompassing government, existed in a state of perpetual fear—
fear of instability, fear of conquest, and, most of all, fear of death.
People lived in what he called "the war of all against all" and that
unless something radical was done, human life would be, he warned,
nothing but "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."—"Advocates
of the Method of Science," in
Socrates to Sartre: A History of
Philosophy,
Samuel Enoch Stumpf, ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill
Book Company, 1982), pp. 223, 225.
What was the solution? Hobbes said that there was only one: The
people must place themselves under a single power that would reduce
all their wills to a single will and that would exercise complete authority
over them. This power, this sovereign—be it a single man or an
assembly of men—through wielding absolute hegemony over the
nation, would end the terrible conditions that made their lives so
fearful and unstable. In other words, in exchange for all their rights,
the people got peace and security instead. This transfer of power,
from the people to the sovereign, is what Hobbes called the covenant.
The covenant idea, however, did not originate with Thomas Hobbes.
On the contrary. Thousands of years earlier, God made a covenant
with Israel, a covenant whose roots, in fact, went back even farther in
time. Unlike Hobbes's covenant, which was initiated and promulgated
by the people, this covenant was initiated and promulgated by the true
Sovereign, the Creator of heaven and earth. Also, though Hobbes's
covenant was motivated solely by fear, God's covenant is motivated
by love, His love for the fallen race, a love that led Him to the Cross.
Because of the Cross, we love the Sovereign back, and just as in
the Hobbesian covenant, where the subjects had to surrender to the
sovereign, we surrender, too—our sinful ways, our fears, our twisted
notions of right and wrong. We do this not to gain something in return
but because we have already been given the best the Sovereign can
give—Jesus Christ and the redemption found only in Him.
This quarter we look closely at what God's covenant is, what it
offers, even what it demands. Though drawn from many sources, the
lessons rely heavily on work of the late Dr. Gerhard Hasel, whose
insights into the Word (where the covenant promises are revealed) will
give encouragement, hope, and understanding in order that we can
learn something which, perhaps, Thomas Hobbes never did: "There is
no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear" (1 John 4:18).
2
INTRODUCTIO
Bridge Across the Cosmos
C
hristianity is more than rituals; it is deeper, and more profound,
than rules. It is, instead, a relationship between an offending
being and an offended God.
Jesus Christ, through His incarnation, death, and resurrection, has
become the direct link between the offender and the offended. As God,
He reached into heaven; as man, He reached the earth; as both, He
spanned the gap between the two. He is, for us, a bridge across the
cosmos. In Him, and through Him, heaven and earth have become
united.
How does it work? It is as simple as an exchange: Christ takes our
sins and gives us His righteousness so that, through Him, we are
accounted as righteous as God Himself. In this way, sin—that which
formed the break between humankind and God to begin with—is no
longer attributed to us; it no longer has to keep us separated from Him.
Murderers, adulterers, bigots, liars, thieves, and even the incestuous
can all be viewed as righteous as God Himself. And this wonderful gift,
this accounting of righteousness, comes to them by faith, and faith
alone. Hence the phrase "righteousness by faith."
But it does not end there, either. Murderers, adulterers, bigots,
liars, thieves, and even the incestuous can, through Jesus, enter into a
relationship with God, because Jesus' blood brings not only forgive-
ness but cleansing, healing, and restoration. We are, through Christ,
born again, and through this experience God writes His holy law upon
the fleshy tables of our hearts. Thus murderers, adulterers, bigots,
liars, thieves, and the incestuous no longer do the things they used to
do. From and by this inward law, all of life is shaped for the believer.
These people desire to work out what God puts within them, and that
desire is matched with the promise of Divine power.
But this wonderful transformation does not happen in a vacuum.
God does not just arbitrarily do this work for some and not for others.
At the same time, He does not impose His saving grace upon us
against our will. Instead, responding to the prompting of His Holy
Spirit, we enter into a special relationship with Him, a relationship that
is founded upon what the Bible calls "the everlasting covenant," a
covenant sealed and ratified by blood—the blood of Christ.
This quarter we will study the covenant (or covenants). What is the
covenant? What is the purpose of the covenant? Why were there
different covenants made throughout history? What does it mean to
be under the new covenant? What obligations does it entail on our
part? And how can we, as individuals, enjoy the benefits of the
covenant today?
42 X
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Where do
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Think it
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Missi
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supports projects in the South American Division.
Lesson I
*December 28—January 3
What Happened?
Sabbath Afternoon
MEMORY TEXT: "Then God said, 'Let us make humankind in our
image, according to our likeness; . . .' So God created human-
kind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male
and female he created them" (Genesis 1:26, 27, NRSV).
T
HE BIBLICAL ACCOUNT
of the creation of humanity is one
filled with hope, happiness, and perfection. Each day of Creation
ended with the divine pronouncement that it was "good." Cer-
tainly that did not include typhoons, earthquakes, famines, and diseases.
What happened?
The sixth day of Creation ended with the divine pronouncement that
it was "very good." That is because that day the Lord created beings in
His own image: humans. Something He had not done with anything else
in the Genesis account. These beings were, of course, perfect in every
way; they'd have to be. After all, they were made in the image of God.
Thus, of sheer necessity, they did not include murderers, thieves, liars,
swindlers, and the vile in their ranks. What happened?
This week's lesson looks at the creation, at what God had first made,
and then at what happened to that perfect creation. Finally, it touches on
the quarter's theme: what God is doing to make things right again.
THE WEEK AT A GLANCE: What does the Bible teach about origins?
What kind of relationship did God want with humanity? What was the
purpose of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? What hope was
given to Adam and Eve immediately after they fell?
*Please study this week's lesson to prepare for Sabbath, January 4.
6
Sunday
December 29
TURTLES ALL THE WAY DOWN . . .
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" (Gen. 1:1).
A
scientist had just lectured on the orbits of the planets around
the sun and the orbit of the sun around the center of the galaxy,
when an old lady in black tennis shoes rose and said that the
earth was a flat disc sitting on the back of a turtle. The scientist, jesting,
asked what the turtle sat on, and she responded that it sat on another
turtle. "Ma'am," the scientist continued joking, "what then does
that
turtle sit on?" She answered, "Another turtle," but before he could ask
what that turtle sat on, she wagged her finger in his face and snapped,
"Save your breath, sonny, it's turtles all the way down."
However cute, that story deals with
the
most crucial issue of human
existence—the nature of the universe itself. What is this world that we
find ourselves in by no choice of our own? Why are we here? How did we
get here? And where are we all finally going?
These are the most basic and fundamental questions people could ask,
because our understanding of who we are and how we got here will impact
our understanding of how we live and how we act while we are here.
Look up these following texts. How does each one, in its own way,
answer some of the above questions? Gen. 1:1; Ps. 100:3; Isa. 40:28;
Acts 17:26; Eph. 3:9; Heb. 1:2, 10. What is the one point they all have
in common?
What is interesting about Genesis 1:1 (or even the other texts) is that
the Lord does not attempt to prove that He is the Creator. There are no
elaborate arguments to make the point. Instead, it is simply and clearly
stated, with no attempt to justify, explain, or prove it. Either we accept it
on faith, or we do not. In fact, faith is the
only
way we can accept it, for
one simple reason: None of us were here to see the Creation process itself.
It would, indeed, have been a logical impossibility for us to have been
there at our own creation. Even secularists, whatever view of origins they
hold, have to take that view on faith for the same reason we as creationists
have to: None of us were there to view the event.
Nevertheless, even if God has asked us to believe in Him as
Creator, He does not ask us to believe without giving us good
reasons to believe. Realizing that there is a certain amount of faith
required in almost anything we believe, write down reasons why it
makes sense to have faith that we are here because a Creator
purposely put us here, as opposed to our origins being rooted in
nothing but pure chance.
7
Monday
December 30
IN THE IMAGE OF THE MAKER (Gen. 1:27).
The Bible states that God created humankind—male and fe-
male—"in his own image" (Gen. 1:27). Based on this idea, answer
the following questions:
1.
What does it mean that God created us in His own image? In what
ways are we "in his own image"?
2.
According to the Genesis account, did the Lord make anything
else "in his own image" other than humankind? If not, what does
that tell us about our unique status, in contrast to the rest of the
earthly creation? What lessons can we draw from this contrast?
3.
What else can be found in the account of the creation of human-
kind that sets the race apart from anything else the Lord had created?
See Genesis 2:7; 18-25.
A
lthough we must speak of God in human terminology, we must
not forget that He is a spiritual Being (John 4:24), possessing
divine characteristics. All we can say is that in our physical,
mental, and spiritual natures we reflect in some way our divine Creator,
however much there remains about Him that is still, at least for us,
shrouded in mystery. The Bible emphasizes, however, the spiritual and
mental aspects of our mind. These aspects we can develop and im-
prove. It is the uniqueness of the human mind that makes possible a
nourishing relationship with God, something the rest of anything in
God's earthly creation seems unable to do.
Notice, too, the unique account of how God made woman. Both men
and women share the incredible privilege of being in the image of God.
In their creation, there is no hint of inferiority of one to the other. God
Himself made them both from the same material. God made both equal
from the start and placed them together in a special relationship with
Him. Both had the same opportunity to develop their God-given charac-
ters in a way that would bring glory to Him.
"God Himself gave Adam a companion. He provided 'an help meet
for him'—a helper corresponding to him—one who was fitted to be
his companion, and who could be one with him in love and sympathy.
Eve was created from a rib taken from the side of Adam, signifying
that she was not to control him as the head, nor to be trampled under
his feet as an inferior, but to stand by his side as an equal, to be loved
and protected by him."—Ellen G. White,
The Adventist Home,
p. 25.
8
Tuesday
December 31
GOD AND HUMANKIND TOGETHER (Gen. 1:28, 29).
N
otice God's first spoken words to humankind, at least as they
appear in Scripture. He points them to their ability to procreate,
to reproduce more of their own kind. He also points them to the
earth itself, to the creation, and He tells them to replenish it, to subdue
it, and to have mastery over it. He also points them to the plants they
can eat. In short, according to the Bible, God's first words to man and
woman deal specifically with their interaction and relationship to the
physical world.
What do Genesis 1:28,29 tell us about how God views the
material world? Do they imply that there is something bad in
material things and our enjoyment of them? What lessons can
we learn from these early scenes in human history about how we
should relate to the creation itself?
Also, with these words, God takes the first steps toward a relation-
ship with humankind. He speaks to them, gives them commands, tells
them what to do. There's a responsibility implicit in words too. God has
asked them to be masters over this wonderful creation that He Himself
has made.
Genesis 1:28 says that God blessed Adam and Eve. What does
that mean? What kind of relationship does it imply between them
and their Creator?
God addressed Adam and Eve as intelligent beings who could re-
spond to His kindness and enter into communion and fellowship with
Him. Also, as creature-children, Adam and Eve were dependent upon
the blessing and care of their Creator-Father. He provided all they
needed. They did nothing to deserve what He gave them. They were
purely recipients of something they did not earn.
When we read about the creation of man and woman, we can see
elements, before sin, of the kind of relationship God wants us to have
with Him now, after sin. Review the day's lesson and
see
what paral-
lels you can find that help us understand how we can relate to Him,
even in our fallen condition.
9
Wednesday
January 1
AT THE TREE.
"And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the
garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof
thou shalt surely die" (Gen. 2:16, 17).
T
his test provided Adam and Eve with an opportunity to exercise
their free will. It also challenged them to respond positively or
negatively to their relationship with the Creator. It also shows
that God had made them free, moral beings. After all, if they did not have
the opportunity to disobey, why would the Lord have even bothered
warning them, in the first place, against disobedience?
"Everything preceding in this chapter has paved the way for this
climax [Gen. 2:16, 17]. The future of the race centers upon this single
prohibition. Man is not to be confused by a multiplicity of issues. Only
one divine ordinance must be kept in mind. By thus limiting the number
of injunctions to
one,
Yaweh gives tokens of his mercy. Besides, to
indicate that this one commandment is not grievous, the Lord sets it
against the background of a broad permission: 'from any tree of the
garden thou mayest freely eat.' "—H. C. Leupold,
Exposition of Gen-
esis
(Columbus, Ohio: Wartburg Press, 1942), vol. 1, p. 127.
By calling Adam and Eve to obey His will, God was saying: I am your
Creator, and I have made you in My image. Your life is sustained by Me,
for by Me you live and move and have your being. I have provided all
things for your well-being and happiness (sustenance, home, human
companionship) and have established you as ruler of this world under
Me. If you are willing to affirm this relationship with Me because you
love Me, then I will be your God, and you will be My children. And you
can affirm this relationship and the trust implicit in it by simply obeying
this specific command.
In the end, our relationship with God can be effective and lasting
only if we freely choose to accept His will. Rejecting His will is, in
essence, to claim independence from Him. It indicates that we believe
we do not need Him. This is a choice that results in the knowledge of
evil, and evil leads to alienation, loneliness, frustration, and death.
The test God gave Adam and Eve was one of loyalty and faith.
Would they be loyal to their Creator, who had given them everything
they needed, plus a world of delights, or would they go their own way,
independent of His will? Would they have enough faith in Him to take
Him at His word? Their loyalty and faith was tested by the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil. In what ways do we face
similar tests every day? How does God's law function as a
parallel to the command given in Genesis 2:16, 17?
10
Thursday
January 2
BREAKING THE RELATIONSHIP.
We tend to believe people we know and instinctively distrust those
whom we do not. Thus, Eve naturally would have distrusted Sa-
tan. Furthermore, any direct attack against God would have made
her defensive. What steps, then, did Satan take to bypass Eve's
natural defenses? Gen. 3:1-6.
D
eplorable as was Eve's transgression and fraught as it was with
potential woe for the human family, her choice did not necessar-
ily involve the race in the penalty for her transgression. It was
the deliberate choice of Adam, in the full understanding of an express
command of God—rather than hers—that made sin and death the
inevitable lot of mankind. Eve was deceived; Adam was
not."—The
SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 1,
p. 231.
As a result of this blatant transgression and disregard to God's
command, the relationship between God and humankind is now broken.
It changed from open fellowship with God to fleeing in fear from His
presence (Gen. 3:8-10). Alienation and separation replace fellowship
and communion. Sin has appeared, and all its ugly results follow.
Unless something is done, humanity is heading for eternal ruin.
In the midst of this tragedy, what words of hope and promise did God
speak? See Genesis 3:15.
God's surprising word of prophetic hope speaks of a divinely or-
dained hostility between the serpent and the woman, between her
Offspring and his offspring. This climaxes in the victorious appear-
ance of a representative Offspring of the woman's seed who delivers a
deadly blow to the head of Satan, while he would only be able to bruise
the Messiah's heel.
In their utter helplessness, Adam and Eve were to gain hope from
this Messianic promise, hope that would transform their existence,
because this hope was God-given and God-supported. This promise of
the Messiah and of final victory, however vaguely stated at that time,
lifted the gloom into which sinning had placed them.
Read Genesis 3:9, where God says to Adam and Eve," 'Where are
you?" (NKJV). God, of course, knew where they were. His words,
instead of being filled with condemnation, were to draw guilt-ridden
humankind back to Him. In short, God's first words to fallen hu-
manity came with the hope of His grace and mercy. In what ways do
we find, even now, God seeking to call us to His mercy and grace?
11
Friday
January 3
FURTHER STUDY:
The Bible overflows with calls to sinners and
backsliders. Compare Ps. 95:7, 8; Isa. 55:1, 2, 6, 7; Luke 15:3-7; 19:10.
What others can you find?
For more information regarding this week's topic, read the follow-
ing chapters from Ellen G. White,
Patriarchs and Prophets:
"The
Creation," pp. 44-51; "The Temptation and Fall," pp. 52-62; and
"The Plan of Redemption," pp. 63-70.
T
here was a gospel sermon, I think, in those three divine words
as they penetrated the dense parts of the thicket, and reached the
tingling ears of the fugitives—'Where art thou?' Thy God is not
willing to lose thee; He is come forth to seek thee, just as by-and-by He
means to come forth in the Person of His Son, not only to seek but to
save that which now is lost."—Charles Haddon Spurgeon,
The Treas-
ury of the Bible
(Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Publishing House,
1962), Old Testament, vol. 1, p. 11.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1.
Because the kind and caring God is the One who seeks
humankind, how can we respond to this expression of love
by the Father and Jesus Christ even now? How does the
Lord expect us to respond?
2.
Contrast the biblical picture of humankind as fallen from a
lofty place in God's creation and in need of redemption with the
evolutionary theory of development. Which offers more hope,
and why?
3.
How essential are loving relationships to human happiness?
Why is a flourishing connection to God necessary to such
relationships? Discuss the influence of healthy human rela-
tionships on the persons in those relationships (parent-child,
friend-friend, husband-wife, employer-employee, etc.).
SUMMARY:
God created us in His own image so that a loving
fellowship could exist between Him and us. Although the entrance of
sin shattered the original union, God seeks to restore this relationship
through the plan of redemption. As dependent creatures, life takes on
true meaning and clarity only when we enter into union with our
Creator.
12
Hope for a Broken Heart
Ch. John Victor
The village band led the procession down the dusty road, playing
funeral music. Young men danced behind the musicians. Four men
followed, carrying a stretcher on which lay the body of a child covered
with marigold garlands. Abraham, the child's father, stumbled along
behind, supported by family and friends. The liquor he drank early that
morning could not stifle the pain of his grief.
Another child gone!
he thought.
Why? I have gone to the temples. I
have made my offerings to the gods. But still my children die one after
another. Why so much sorrow? Where can I go for comfort and
release from my pain?
But no one could offer him any answers.
He continued to drink heavily to forget his pain and longed for
death to take him from his misery.
"Go to church," a Christian neighbor suggested to him one day.
"There you will find peace and comfort." Abraham frowned and said
nothing. He had been to enough temples and shrines, and nothing good
had come of it.
Then one day Pastor Raja Rao came to Abraham's village in South
Andhra. He visited the homes and prayed for the people. He invited
them to come to some meetings that evening. Abraham decided to go.
The songs of Jesus soothed his spirit. He listened as Pastor Rao
spoke about Jesus Christ, the true and living God, who cares for His
people as a father cares for his children. Hope began to stir in
Abraham's broken heart. He thrilled when he heard about the resurrec-
tion of Jesus Christ and the hope His resurrection gives to those who
follow Him. The next day Abraham told his
neighbors what he had heard at the meeting,
and several of them attended.
At the close of the meetings, Abraham
approached Pastor Rao. "I want to be bap-
tized and follow Jesus," he said. Abraham
was baptized, along with 25 of his neigh-
bors and friends.
"The Lord Jesus has brought me com-
fort and peace," Abraham testifies. "He has
delivered me from my evil habits and given
me hope for today and tomorrow."
Ch. John Victor is director of ADRA for
the South Andhra Section in India.
Produced by the Office of Mission
Sabbath School-Personal Ministries department of the General Conference
Email: gomission@gc.adventist.org
Lesson 2
*January 4-10
Covenant Primer
Sabbath Afternoon
MEMORY TEXT: "Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed,
and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me
above all people: for all the earth is mine" (Exodus 19:5).
L
AST WEEK LEFT OFF WITH THE FALL OF HUMANITY,
due
to our first parents' sin. This week is a quick summary of the
whole quarter, as we take one day each to look at the early
covenants, the ones that were all, in their own way, present-truth
manifestations of the true covenant, the one ratified at Calvary by the
blood of Jesus, the one that we, as Christians, enter into with our Lord.
We begin with the covenant God made with Noah to spare him and
his family from destruction. We proceed to the covenant with Abraham,
so rich and full of promise for all of us; then to the covenant at Sinai and
the importance of what was proclaimed there; and finally we look at the
new covenant, the one that all the others pointed toward. All of these,
of course, will be studied in more depth in the next several weeks. This
week is just a sneak preview.
THE WEEK AT A GLANCE: What does the word
covenant
mean?
What elements make up the covenant? What was the covenant that
God made with Noah? What hope was found in the covenant with
Abraham? What role do faith and works play in the human end of
the covenant? Is the covenant just a deal, or does it have relational
aspects to it? What is the essence of the "new covenant"?
*Please study this week's lesson to prepare for Sabbath, January 11.
14
Sunday
January 5
COVENANT BASICS.
"And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will
multiply thee exceedingly" (Gen. 17:2).
T
he Hebrew word translated as "covenant" (appearing about 287
times in the Old Testament) is
berith.
It can also be translated as
"testament" or "last will." Its origin is unclear, but it has come "to
mean that which bound two parties together. It was used, however, for
many different types of 'bond,' both between man and man and be-
tween man and God. It has a common use where both parties were men,
and a distinctively religious use where the covenant was between God
and man. The religious use was really a metaphor based on the common
use but with a deeper connotation [meaning]."—J. Arthur Thompson,
"Covenant (OT),"
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia,
revised edition (Grand Rapids, Mich.: William
B.
Eerdmans Publishing
Company, 1979), vol. 1, p. 790.
Like the marriage covenant, the biblical covenant defines both a
relationship
and an
arrangement.
As an arrangement, the biblical
covenant contains these basic elements:
1.
God affirmed the covenant
promises
with an oath (Gal. 3:16; Heb.
6:13,17).
2.
The covenant
obligation
was obedience to God's will as ex-
pressed in the Ten Commandments (Deut. 4:13).
3.
The
means
by which God's covenant obligation is ultimately
fulfilled is through Christ and the plan of salvation (Isa. 42:1, 6).
Look at the three elements listed above (God's promises, our obedi-
ence, and the plan of salvation). How can you see those factors at work
in your own walk with the Lord? Write down a paragraph describing
how they are manifest in your life now.
In the Old Testament, the sacrificial system of types instructed the
people regarding the entire plan of salvation. Through its symbols, the
patriarchs and Israel learned to exercise faith in the coming Redeemer.
Through its rites, the penitent could find forgiveness for sin and release
from guilt. The blessings of the covenant could thus be retained, and
spiritual growth—restoring the image of God in the life—could thereby
continue, even when humankind failed to uphold their end of the bargain.
Though there are covenants made between people, the main use of
the word
berith
in the Hebrew Bible deals with the relationship
between God and humanity. Considering who God is and who
we are in comparison to Him, what kind of relationship would
such a covenant depict?
15
Monday
January 6
COVENANT WITH NOAH.
"But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt
come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons'
wives with thee" (Gen. 6:18).
In the above verse the word
covenant
appears for the first time in the
Bible, and, in this context, God has just told Noah about His decision to
destroy the earth because of the massive and continuing spread of sin.
Though this destruction will come in a worldwide Flood, God is not
forsaking the world He created. He continues to offer the covenant
relationship first set in operation after the Fall. The divine "I" who
offers the covenant is Himself the ground of Noah's security. As the
covenant-keeping God, the Lord promised to protect the family mem-
bers who were willing to live in a committed relationship with Him, one
that resulted in obedience.
Was the covenant with Noah just one-sided? Remember that the
idea of a covenant implies more than one party. Did Noah have his end
of the deal to uphold? What lesson is there for us in the answer to these
questions?
God tells Noah there is going to be a flood, and the world will be
destroyed. But God makes a deal with him, in which He promises to
save Noah and his family. Thus, the stakes were quite high, because if
God did not uphold His end of the promise, then no matter what Noah
did, he would have been wiped out with the rest of the world.
God said He would make a "covenant" with Noah. The word itself
implies an intention to honor what you say you will do. It is not just
some whimsical statement. The word itself comes loaded with commit-
ment. Suppose the Lord had said to Noah, "Look, the world is going to
end in a terrible deluge, and I might save you, or I might not. In the
meanwhile, do this and this and this, and then we'll see what happens,
but I'm not making any guarantees." Such statements hardly come with
the kind of assurance and promise found in the word
covenant
itself.
Some people have argued that Noah's flood was not world-
wide but merely a local deluge. If so, then in the context of what
God promises in Genesis 9:15
(see
also Isa. 54:9), every time
another local flood happens (and they seem to happen all the
time), God's covenant promise is broken. In contrast, the fact
that there has not been another worldwide flood proves the
validity of God's covenant promise. In short, what does this tell
us about how we can trust His promises?
16
Tuesday
January
7
THE ABRAM COVENANT.
"And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth
thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed" (Gen. 12:3).
Read Genesis 12:1-3; list the specific promises God made to Abram.
Notice that among these promises God says to Abram that "in thee
shall all families of the earth be blessed" (vs. 3). What does that mean?
How were all the families of the earth blessed in Abram? See
Galatians 3:6-9. In what ways can you see in the promise the
promise of Jesus the Messiah? See Galatians 3:29.
In this, the first recorded divine revelation to Abram, God promised
to enter into a close and lasting relationship with him, even before He
uses any language that speaks about covenant making. Direct refer-
ences to the covenant that God would make come later (Gen. 15:4-21;
17:1-14). For the moment, God offers a divine-human relationship of
great significance. The repeated "I will" in Genesis 12:1-3 suggests the
depth and greatness of God's offer and promise.
In addition, Abram receives a single, but testing, command, "Go
forth." He obeyed by faith (Heb. 11:8) but not in order to bring about the
promised blessings. His obedience was the response of his faith to the
loving relationship, which
God
desired to be established. In other words,
Abram already believed in God, already trusted in God, already had
faith in God's promises. He had to; otherwise, he never would have left
his family and ancestral land to begin with and head into places un-
known. His obedience revealed his faith both to men and to angels.
Abram, even back then, revealed the key relationship between faith
and works. We are saved by faith, a faith that results in works of
obedience. The promise of salvation comes first; the works follow.
Although there can be no covenant fellowship and no blessing without
obedience, that obedience is faith's response to what God has already
done. Such faith illustrates the principle in 1 John 4:19: "We love him
[God], because he first loved us."
Read Genesis 15:6. How does it, in many ways, show the basis of
all covenant promises? Why is this blessing the most precious one
of all?
17
Wednesday
January 8
THE COVENANT WITH MOSES.
Read Exodus 6:1-8 and then answer these questions:
1.
What covenant was He talking about? See Genesis 12:1-3.
2.
How was the Exodus to be a fulfillment, on His part, of the
covenant promises?
3.
What parallel can you find between what God promised
the people
here
and what He promised Noah before the Flood?
A
fter the Exodus, the children of Israel received the covenant at
Sinai, given in the context of redemption from bondage (Exod.
20:2) and containing God's sacrificial provisions for atone-
ment and the forgiveness of sin. It was, therefore, like all of them, a
covenant of grace, God's grace extended to His people.
This covenant reiterated, in many ways, the major emphases in the
covenant with Abraham:
1.
Special relationship of God to His people (compare Gen. 17:7, 8
with Exod. 19:5, 6).
2.
They would be a great nation (compare Gen. 12:2 with Exod. 19:6).
3.
Obedience was required (compare Gen. 17:9-14; 22:16-18 with
Exod. 19:5).
"Note the order here: the Lord first
saves
Israel, then gives them His
law to
keep.
The same order is true under the gospel. Christ first saves
us from sin (see John 1:29; 1 Cor. 15:3; Gal. 1:4), then lives out His
law within us (Gal. 2:20; Rom. 4:25; 8:1-3; 1 Pet. 2:24)."—The
SDA
Bible Commentary, vol.
1, p. 602.
Read Exodus 6:7. What is the one thing that comes through in
the first part, where the Lord
says
they will be His people and
He their God? Notice the dynamics there. They will be some-
thing to God, and God will be something to them. Not only does
God want to relate to them in a special way; He wants them to
relate to Him in a special way, as well. Does the Lord not seek
the same kind of relationship with us today? Does that first part
of Exodus 6:7 reflect your relationship with the Lord, or are you
someone whose name is just on the church books? If your answer to
the first part of that question is Yes, give reasons why.
18
Thursday
January 9
THE NEW COVENANT (Jer. 31:31-33).
T
hese passages are the first time the Old Testament mentions
what is referred to as the "new covenant." It is lodged in the
context of Israel's return from exile, and it talks about the bless-
ings they will receive from God.
Again, as in all the others, it is God who initiates the covenant, and it
is God who will fulfill it by His grace.
Notice, also, the language there. God referred to Himself as a
husband to them; He talked about writing His law within their hearts;
and using language from the Abrahamic covenant, He says He will be
their God, and they will be His people. Thus, as before, the covenant is
not just some legal-binding agreement, as in courts of law today, but it
deals with something more.
Read Jeremiah 31:33. Compare it with Exodus 6:7, which details
part of the covenant made with Israel. Again, what's the key element
that comes through here? What does God want with His people?
Read Jeremiah 31:34. Compare what is being said there to John
17:3. What is the key thing the Lord does that builds the founda-
tion for this relationship?
In Jeremiah 31:31-34, one can see the elements of both grace and
obedience, just as in the earlier covenants, as well. God will forgive
their sins, God will enter into a relationship with them, and God will
bestow His grace in their lives. As a result, the people simply obey Him;
not in some rote, mechanical way but purely because they know Him,
because they love Him, and because they want to serve Him. This
captures the essence of the covenant relationship the Lord seeks with
His people.
How do you understand this idea of the law being written in our
hearts? Does it imply that the law becomes subjective and personal,
something to be interpreted and applied according to the individual
configurations of our hearts? Or does it mean something else? If so,
what?
19
Friday
January 10
FURTHER STUDY:
T
he yoke that binds to service is the law of God. The great law of
love revealed in Eden, proclaimed upon Sinai, and in the new
covenant written in the heart, is that which binds the human
worker to the will of God. If we were left to follow our own inclinations,
to go just where our will would lead us, we should fall into Satan's ranks
and become possessors of his attributes. Therefore God confines us to
His will, which is high, and noble, and elevating. He desires that we
shall patiently and wisely take up the duties of service. The yoke of
service Christ Himself has borne in humanity. He said, 'I delight to do
Thy will,
0
My God: yea, Thy law is within My heart.' Ps. 40:8. 'I came
down from heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent
Me.' John 6:38. Love for God, zeal for His glory, and love for fallen
humanity, brought Jesus to earth to suffer and to die. This was the
controlling power of His life. This principle He bids us adopt."—Ellen
G. White,
The Desire of Ages,
pp. 329, 330.
See also Ellen G. White,
Patriarchs and Prophets,
pp. 132-138;
Prophets and Kings,
pp. 569-571.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1.
Was God's covenant with Noah, Abram, Moses, and us a con-
tinuation of His covenant with Adam, or was it something new?
Compare Genesis 3:15; 22:18 and Galatians 3:8, 16.
2.
Why is the personal, relational aspect of the covenant so
important? In other words, you can have a legally binding
deal, a "covenant" with someone, without any close, per-
sonal interaction. That kind of arrangement is not, how-
ever, what the Lord is seeking in His covenant relationship
with His people. Why is that so? Discuss.
3.
In what ways is marriage a good analogy for the covenant? In
what ways does the analogy of marriage fall short in describing
the covenant?
SUMMARY:
The entrance of sin ruptured the relationship the Creator
had originally established with the human family through our first
parents. Now God seeks to reestablish that same loving relationship by
means of a covenant. This covenant signifies both a committed rela-
tionship between God and us (like a marriage bond) and an arrangement
for saving us and bringing us into harmony with its Maker. God Him-
self, motivated by His great love for us, is the Initiator of the covenant
relationship. By gracious promises and gracious acts, He woos us to
come into union with Him.
20
The God Tree
J. H.
Zachary
James Adu is an 86-year-old evangelist in Ghana, West Africa.
Although he cannot read or write, he has won thousands to Christ
using a unique object lesson to point people to the Savior.
Adu sets a sapling of the kwame [kwah-mee] tree on a table and
explains that for centuries Ghanians have called the kwame the "God
tree." Long before Europeans came to Ghana, the people worshiped
the Creator God on the seventh-day Sabbath. And through the centu-
ries the kwame tree has reminded Ghanians of those spiritual roots.
Adu points to the four branches at the top of the tree, which, he
says, point in the four directions of the compass, signifying that God
created all things on earth. The tree's branches are soft and pliable,
which reminds listeners that God never forces people to come to Him.
Ghanians have long used the kwame tree for medicinal purposes, and
this reminds them that God, the Creator of the kwame tree, is the Great
Physician.
Adu tells his audience that his father told him long ago that God
gave the kwame tree to Adam and Eve. He adds that for generations in
villages throughout Ghana drums were beaten on the sixth day of the
week to call the people to prepare for worship on Kwame, Sabbath.
Adu then appeals to today's Ghanians to return to their roots and keep
holy the Sabbath day.
Adu has filled his mind with Scripture texts that support the ancient
tradition of Kwame. As he places a white cloth around the kwame
sapling, he explains that the living God is a righteous God. He places a
small bowl of water in the four branches on top and explains that the
water represents the Holy Spirit, whose coming is often referred to as
rain. He then fastens a chain to one of the top branches and lets it hang
down to the ground. The chain, he explains, is like Jesus, the One who
connects heaven and earth.
Using these symbols makes it easy for the audience to respond to
the appeal to come to the living God, who gave the Ghanian people the
sacred kwame tree.
Today George Adu has joined his grandfather's evangelistic minis-
try. Together they see thousands return to the worship of the living
God on the sacred Sabbath that their forefathers learned about untold
generations ago.
J. H. Zachary is coordinator of international evangelism for The
Quiet Hour.
Produced by the Office of Mission
Sabbath School-Persoftal Ministries department of the General Conference
Email: gomission@gc.adventist.org
21
Lesson 3
January 11-17
"All Future Generations"
Sabbath Afternoon
MEMORY TEXT: "But Noah found grace in the
eyes
of the Lord"
(Genesis 6:8).
B
ACTERIA ARE PLANT ORGANISMS
too small to see without
a microscope. A single, common round bacterium appears no
larger than a pencil point, even after being magnified 1,000 times.
Given favorable conditions for growth—sufficient warmth, moisture,
and food—bacteria multiply at an extremely rapid rate. For example,
some bacteria reproduce by simple fission: A mature cell simply splits
into two daughter cells. When fission takes place every hour, one
bacterium can produce over 18,000,000 new bacteria in 24 hours. At the
end of 48 hours, hundreds of billions of bacteria will have appeared.
This microscopic phenomenon in the natural world illustrates the
rapid growth of evil after the Fall. Gifted with giant intellects, robust
health, and longevity, the virile race forsook God and prostituted their
rare powers to the pursuit of iniquity in all forms. While bacteria may be
exterminated by sunlight, chemicals, or high temperatures, God chose
to check this rampant rebellion by a universal Flood.
THE WEEK AT A GLANCE: What did sin do to God's creation? What
were some of the characteristics of Noah? What elements were in-
volved in the covenant with Noah? In what ways is God's grace revealed
in the covenant with Noah before the Flood? What does the covenant
God made with humanity after the Flood teach us about His universal
love for us?
*Please study this week's lesson to prepare for Sabbath, January 18.
22
Sunday
January 12
THE SIN PRINCIPLE (Gen. 6:5).
T
he divine opinion at the end of God's creation was that all "was
very good" (Gen. 1:31). Then sin entered, and the paradigm
shifted. Things weren't "very good" anymore. God's orderly
creation was marred by sin and all its loathsome results. Rebellion
reached terrible proportions by Noah's day; evil consumed the race.
Though the Bible does not give us many details (see Ellen G. White,
Patriarchs and Prophets,
pp. 90-92 for more), the transgressions and
rebellion were clearly something that even a loving, patient, and forgiv-
ing God couldn't tolerate.
How could things get so bad so quickly? The answer is, perhaps, not
that hard to find. How many people, today, looking at their own sins,
have not asked the same thing: How did things get so bad so quickly?
Look up the texts listed below. Write down the point they make.
Notice the steady progression of sin:
1.
Gen. 3:6
2.
Gen. 3:11-13
3.
Gen. 4:5
4.
Gen. 4:8
5.
Gen. 4:19
6.
Gen. 4:23
7.
Gen. 6:2
8.
Gen. 6:5, 11
Genesis 6:5 and 11 did not come in a vacuum. There was a history
before them. This terrible result had a cause. Sin progressively got
worse. It tends to do that. Sin is not like a cut or a wound, with some
automatic, built-in process that brings healing. On the contrary, sin, if
left unchecked, multiplies, never satisfied until it leads to ruin and
death. One does not have to imagine life before the Flood to see that
principle operating. It exists all around us even now.
No wonder God hates sin; no wonder, sooner or later, sin will be
eradicated. A just, loving God could do nothing else with it.
The good news, of course, is that though He wants to get rid of sin,
He wants to save sinners. That's what the covenant is all about.
23
Monday
January 13
THE MAN NOAH (Gen. 6:9).
Amid all the texts about the evil of the antediluvian (pre-Flood)
world, the man Noah stands out in contrast to those around him. Look
at the above text, at the three particular points the Bible mentions
about him. To the best of your ability, write down what you think each of
these points mean:
1.
He was "a righteous man"
2.
He was "blameless"
3.
He "walked with God"
T
here is no question, Noah was someone who had a saving
relationship with the Lord. He was someone whom God could
work with; someone who would listen to Him, obey Him, and
trust in Him. That is why the Lord was able to use Noah to fulfill His
purposes and why Peter, in the New Testament, called him "a preacher
of righteousness" (2 Pet. 2:5).
Read Genesis 6:8. How does that text help us understand the
relationship between Noah and the Lord?
The word
grace
occurs here for the first time in Scripture and
clearly has the same meaning as in the New Testament references,
where the merciful, unmerited favor of God, exercised toward unde-
serving sinners, is described. Thus, we need to understand that how-
ever "blameless" and "righteous" Noah was, he was still a sinner who
needed the unmerited favor of his God. In that sense, Noah is no
different from any of us who seek earnestly to follow the Lord.
Understanding that Noah needed God's grace, as do the rest of us,
look at your own life and ask yourself this question, Could it be said
of me that I am, like Noah, "righteous," "blameless," and that I
"walk with God"? Write down your reasons for whatever position
you take and (if you feel comfortable) share it with the class on
Sabbath.
24
Tuesday
January 14
COVENANT WITH NOAH.
" 'But I will establish my covenant with you; and you shall
come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives
with you' " (Gen. 6:18, RSV).
I
n this one verse we have the basics of the biblical covenant that
God makes with humanity: God and humankind enter into an agree-
ment. Very simple.
Yet, there are more elements than first meet the eye.
To begin, there is the element of obedience on humanity's part. God
says to Noah that he and his family shall go into the ark. They have their
part to do, and if they do not do it, the covenant is broken. If the
covenant is broken, they are the ultimate losers, for in the end they are
the beneficiaries of the covenant. After all, if Noah said No to God and
did not want to abide by it or said Yes but then changed his mind, what
would have been the results for him and his family?
God says it is "my covenant." What does that tell us about the basic
nature of the covenant? What difference would there be in our concept
of the covenant if the Lord had called it "our covenant"?
However unique this particular situation, we see here the basic God-
human dynamic found in the covenant. By establishing "my covenant"
with Noah, God here again displays His grace. He shows that He is
willing to take the initiative in order to save human beings from the
results of their sins. In short, this covenant must not be seen as some
sort of union of equals in which each "partner" in the covenant is
dependent upon the other. We could say that God "benefits" from the
covenant, but only in a radically different sense from which humans do.
He benefits in that those whom He loves will be given eternal life—no
small satisfation for the Lord (Isa. 53:11). But that is not to say that He
benefits in the same way we—on the receiving end of the same
covenant—benefit.
Try this analogy: A man has fallen overboard from a boat in the midst
of a storm. Someone on the deck says that he will throw a life preserver
over to haul him in. The one in the water, however, has to agree to his
end of the "deal," and that is to grab on and to hold on to what has been
provided him. That, in many ways, is what the covenant between God
and humanity is all about.
How does that analogy help you understand the concept of grace
that exists in the covenant? How does it help you understand what
your relationship to God even now needs to be based on?
25
Wednesday
January 15
SIGN OF THE RAINBOW.
"And God said, 'This is the sign of the covenant which I make
between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all
future generations: I set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of
the covenant between me and the earth' " (Gen. 9:12, 13, RSV).
Few natural phenomena are more beautiful than the rainbow. Who
does not remember as a child one's first fascination and wonder as
those amazing bars of light bent across the sky like some sort of
beckoning, mystical portal into the heavens (or maybe merely like the
colors in a clown's belt)? Even as adults, our breath can be taken away
by the sight of those outrageous colors in the clouds. No wonder that
even today the rainbow is used as a symbol for so many things: from
political organizations to cults to rock bands to travel agencies (look
up the word
rainbow
on the Web and see). Obviously, those beautiful
bands of color still touch chords in our hearts and minds.
Of course, that was God's whole point.
What did the Lord say the rainbow would
symbolize? Gen. 9:12-17.
The Lord said He would use the rainbow as a sign of "my covenant"
(vs. 15). How interesting that He would use the word
covenant
here, for,
in this case, the covenant differs from how it is used elsewhere. In contrast
to the covenant with Abraham or the Sinai covenant, there is no specific
obligation expressed on the part of those who would benefit from the
covenant (even Noah). God's words here are to all people, to " 'every
living creature of all flesh' " (vs. 15, RSV) for " 'all future generations' "
(vs. 12, RSV). God's words are universal, all-encompassing, regardless
of whether anyone chooses to obey the Lord or not. In this sense, the
concept of
covenant
is not used as it is elsewhere in the Bible when
talking about the relationship between God and humans.
In what sense does this covenant also reveal God's grace?
Who initiated this covenant? Who is the ultimate benefactor?
Though the covenant, as expressed here, does not come with spe-
cific obligations on our part (God's part, of course, is never to destroy
the world with a flood), how could our knowledge of what the rainbow
symbolizes influence us to live in obedience to the Lord? In short, are
there some implied obligations on our part when we look up into the
sky and see the rainbow? Think of the whole context in which the
rainbow came and the lessons we can learn from that account.
26
Thursday
January 16
"ONLY NOAH WAS LEFT."
"He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the
ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the air; they
were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those that
were
with him in the ark" (Gen. 7:23, RSV).
In this text one finds the first mention of the concept of "the
remnant" in the Scriptures. The word translated "was left" comes from
another word whose root forms are used many times in the Old Testa-
ment where the idea of a
remnant
is conveyed.
" 'And God sent me before you to preserve for you a
remnant
on
earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors' " (Gen. 45:7, RSV;
emphasis supplied).
"And he
who is left
in Zion and
remains
in Jerusalem will be called
holy, every one who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem" (Isa. 4:3,
RSV; emphasis supplied).
"In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to
recover
the remnant which is left
of his people" (Isa. 11:11, RSV;
emphasis supplied).
In all these cases, the italicized words are linked to the similar
words "was left" found in Genesis 7:23 (RSV).
Look at Genesis 7:23 and the other examples. How do you
understand the concept of a remnant here? What are the
surrounding conditions that led to a remnant? How does the
covenant fit in with the idea of a remnant?
At the time of the Flood, the Creator of the world also became the
Judge of the world. The nearing worldwide judgment raised the ques-
tion whether all life on earth—even human life—would be destroyed.
If not, who would be the survivors? Who would be the remnant?
In this case, it was Noah and his family. Yet, Noah's salvation was
linked to God's covenant with him (Gen. 6:18)—a covenant that origi-
nated and was executed by a God of mercy and grace. They survived
only because of what God did for them, however important their coop-
eration was. Whatever Noah's covenant obligations were, and no matter
how faithfully he executed them, his only hope was in God's mercy.
Based upon our understanding of last-day events, which includes
a time when God will have a remnant
(see
Rev. 12:17), what parallels
can we learn from the story of Noah that will help us prepare to be
part of the remnant? In what
ways
are we making decisions every
day that could impact just where we finally stand at that time?
27
Friday
January 17
FURTHER STUDY:
T
he rainbow, a natural physical phenomenon, was a fitting symbol
of God's promise never to destroy the earth again by a flood.
Inasmuch as the climatic conditions of the earth would be com-
pletely different after the Flood, and rains would in most parts of the
world take the place of the former beneficent dew to moisten the soil,
something was needed to quiet men's fears each time rain began to fall.
The spiritual mind can see in natural phenomena God's revelations of
Himself (see Rom. 1:20). Thus the rainbow is evidence to the believer
that the rain will bring blessing and not universal destruction."—The
SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 1,
p. 265.
See also: Ellen G. White,
Patriarchs and Prophets,
"The Flood,"
pp. 90-104; "After the Flood," pp. 105-110.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1.
"In those days the world teemed, the people multiplied, the world
bellowed like a wild bull, and the great god
was
aroused by the
clamour. Enlil heard the clamour and he said to the gods in
council, 'The uproar of mankind is intolerable and sleep is no
longer possible by reason of the babel.' So the gods agreed to
exterminate man."—"The Story of the Flood," in
The Epic
of Gilgamesh,
trans. N. K. Sanders (London: The Penguin
Group, 1972), chap. 5, p. 108. Compare this reason for the
Flood to the reason given in the Bible.
2.
Noah did more than warn his generation of God's approaching
judgment. The purpose of his warning was to help the people
sense their need of salvation. Why are the truths of salvation
generally unpopular? List and discuss some things that hinder
many persons from accepting God's plan for their salvation.
See John 3:19; 7:47, 48; 12:42, 43; James 4:4.
SUMMARY:
In this week's study, we have noted that the covenants
God made with Noah are the first to be discussed explicitly in the
Bible. They display His gracious interest in the human family and His
desire to enter into a saving relationship with them. God reaffirmed
His covenant with Noah, and it was Noah's commitment to God that
shielded him from the prevailing apostasy and eventually saved him
and his family from the devastating judgment of the Flood.
"This symbol [the rainbow] in the clouds is to confirm the belief of
all, and establish their confidence in God, for it is a token of divine
mercy and goodness to man; that although God has been provoked to
destroy the earth by the Flood, yet His mercy still encompasseth the
earth."—Ellen G. White,
The Story of Redemption,
p. 71.
28
TAW
Falling Down for God
Jan Meharry
After years of refusing any Christian influence, leaders of Masai
villages in Kenya are asking for lay pastors to come and teach
their people. Recently we visited one village that is so remote that
we had to leave our four-wheel-drive vehicle and walk the last leg
of the journey to the village.
As we sat under a tree visiting with the people, I noticed a tall
man with a smug expression on his face. I was trying to figure out
what his expression meant when he said, "I would never join your
church."
Once he had our attention, the man told us that he was a good
drunk, and any church that told him that he had to stop drinking in
order to join was not for him. "If God did not intend for people to
make brew, then He wouldn't have created maize in the first
place!" he challenged. "Furthermore, if I was a bad drunk, I would
fall down. But I don't stumble or fall even after I drink. The day I
fall down, that will be the day I join your church."
His comments started a lively discussion with much bantering
and laughter. We shared some Bible truths, then I told him that I
was going to pray that he fall down, so he would see that God
wants him to come over to His side.
I sensed that behind his bantering there was serious purpose.
He asked questions, and we answered them simply from the Bible.
He listened.
As our conversation neared its end, I told the man that someday
he would give his heart to God, and when he did, he would make a
powerful preacher. He chuckled and added, "when I fall down."
Before we left, I turned to him and said, "Mzee (sir), after you
have fallen, and you give your heart to God, please get word to me
so I can come to your baptism."
"I will!" he said, grinning.
"And remember, Mzee," I added, "when you fall, Jesus is
standing beside you, reaching down with His hand to pick you
up."
I do not know whether Mzee has fallen down yet, but word has
come that he is attending Sabbath School every week. Please pray
that Mzee will fall down at the feet of Jesus and give his heart to
Him soon.
Jan Meharry lives in North Dakota. She is executive director of
the Masai Project in Kenya, eastern Africa.
Produced by the Office of Mission
Sabbath School-Personal Ministries department of the General Conference
Email: gomission@gc.adventist.org
O
Lesson 4
*January 18-24
An Everlasting Covenant
Sabbath Afternoon
MEMORY TEXT: " '1 [God] will establish my covenant between
me and you [Abraham] and your descendants after you through-
out their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to
you and to your descendants after you' " (Genesis 17:7, RSV).
H
OW MANY REMEMBER
distinctly in our childhood a sickness
or a touch of pneumonia that made us very sick, with the
potential for something even worse? In the long feverish night,
we would awaken from a half sleep to see our mother or father sitting in
a chair beside our bed in the soft glow of the night light.
Just so, in a figurative, human sense, God sat by the bedside of a sin-
sick world as moral darkness began to deepen in the centuries after the
Flood. For this reason, He called out Abram and planned to establish
through His faithful servant a people to whom He could entrust a
knowledge of Himself and give salvation.
Therefore, God entered into a covenant with Abram and his pos-
terity that emphasized in more detail the divine plan to save human-
kind from the results of sin. The Lord was not going to leave His
world unattended, not with it in such dire need. This week we will
look at the unfolding of more covenant promises.
THE WEEK AT A GLANCE: What is the name of God? What does it
mean? What was the significance of the names God used to identify
Himself to Abram? What names did He use to identify Himself? Why
did God change Abram's name to Abraham? Why are names impor-
tant? What conditions, or obligations, were attached to the covenant?
*Please study this week's lesson to prepare for Sabbath, January 25.
30
Sunday
January 19
YAHWEH AND THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT.
"And he said unto him, I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of
the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it" (Gen. 15:7).
N
ames can sometimes be like trademarks. They become so closely
associated in our minds with certain characteristics that when
we hear the name we immediately recall these traits. What traits
come to mind, for instance, when you think of these names: Albert
Einstein, Martin Luther King, Jr., Gandhi, or Dorcas? Each one is
associated with certain characteristics and ideals.
During Bible times, people of the Near East attached great impor-
tance to the meaning of names. "The Hebrews always thought of a
name as indicating either the personal characteristics of the one named,
or the thoughts and emotions of the one giving the name, or attendant
circumstances at the time the name was given."—The
SDA Bible
Commentary, vol.
1, p. 523.
When God first entered into a covenant relationship with Abram,
He made Himself known to the patriarch under the name
YHWH
(printed as LORD, in capitals, in the KJV [Gen. 15:7] and pronounced
Yahweh).
Thus, Genesis 15:7 reads literally, "I am YHWH who brought
thee out of . . ."
The name
YHWH,
though, appearing 6,828 times in the Old Testa-
ment, is somewhat shrouded in mystery. It seems to be a form of the
verb
hayah,
"to be," in which case it would mean "the Eternal One,"
"the Existent One," "the Self-Existing One," "the Self-Sufficient One,"
or "the One who lives eternally." The divine attributes that seem to be
emphasized by this title are that of self-existence and faithfulness. They
point to the Lord as the living God, the Source of life, in contrast with
the gods of the heathen, which had no existence apart from the imagina-
tion of their worshipers.
God Himself explains the meaning of
Yahweh
in Exodus 3:14: "
'I
AM WHO
I
AM' " (RSV, NASB). This meaning expresses the reality
of God's unconditioned existence, while it also suggests His rule over
the past, present, and future.
Yahweh is also God's personal name. The identification of Yahweh
as the One who brought Abram out of Ur refers to the announcement of
God's covenant with him in Genesis 12:1-3. God wants Abram to know
His name, because that name reveals aspects of His identity, personal
nature, and character—and from this knowledge we can learn to trust in
His promises (Pss. 9:10; 91:14).
When you think or hear the name
Yahweh,
what traits or char-
acteristics automatically come to mind? Those of love, kindness,
and care or those of fear, strictness, and discipline? What thoughts
automatically come to mind when you think of the name
Jesus?
31
Monday
January 20
'EL SHADDAI.
"And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord
appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God;
walk before me, and be thou perfect" (Gen. 17:1).
Y
ahweh had appeared to Abraham several times before (Gen.
12:1, 7; 13:14; 15:1, 7, 18). Now, in the above text, Yahweh again
appears to Abram ("the Lord appeared to Abram"), presenting
Himself as "Almighty God"—a name that is used only in the book of
Genesis and in the book of Job. The name
Almighty God
consists first
of
'El,
the basic name for God used among the Semites. Though the
exact meaning of
Shaddai
is not entirely certain, the translation "Al-
mighty" seems the most accurate. (Compare Isa. 13:6; Joel 1:15.) The
crucial idea in the use of this name seems to be that of contrasting the
might and power of God with the weakness and frailty of humanity.
Read Genesis 17:1-6, which helps place everything in the larger
context. Why would the Lord at this time want to stress to Abram His
might and power? What was God saying that would require Abram to
trust in that might and power? Look particularly at verse 6.
A
literal translation of Genesis 17:1-6 would be:
"Jehovah appeared to Abram and said, I am 'El Shaddai; walk
before Me, and be thou perfect; and I will make my covenant between
Me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. . . . And thou shalt be
a father of a multitude of nations, . . . and I will make thee exceedingly
fruitful." This same name appears also in Genesis 28:3, where Isaac
says that
'El Shaddai
will bless Jacob, make him fruitful, and multiply
him.
A similar promise of
'El Shaddai
is found in Genesis 35:11; 43:14;
and 49:25, passages that suggest the bountifulness exercised by God:
'El,
the God of power and authority, and
Shaddai,
the God of inex-
haustible riches, riches that He is willing to bestow upon those who
seek Him in faith and obedience.
It has been said that a rose by any other name would smell as
sweet, the idea being that the name does not matter. Yet, how
much comfort and hope would you have if the Lord's name was
"The Frail God" or "The Weak God"? Look at the text for
today. Replace "Almighty God" with these two other names.
What would it do for your faith and trust in Him if the Lord
were to present Himself to us in that manner? At the same time,
how does the name 'El Shaddai give us comfort?
32
Tuesday
January 21
FROM ABRAM TO ABRAHAM (Gen. 17:4, 5, RSV).
T
hough the names of God come with spiritual and theological
significance, they do not end just with God. Names of people in
the ancient Near East were not just meaningless ways of identifi-
cation, as they are often to us. To name a girl
Mary
or
Susy
does not
make much of a difference today. For the ancient Semites, however,
human names came heavy-laden with spiritual significance. All Semitic
names of people have meaning and usually consist of a phrase or short
sentence that consisted of a wish or an expression of gratitude on the
part of the parent. For example,
Daniel
means "God is Judge";
Joel
means "Yahweh is God"; or
Nathan
means "gift of God."
Because of the significance attached to names, names would often
be changed to reflect a radical change in someone's life and circum-
stances.
Look up the following texts. What situations are they addressing,
and why were the names changed in these situations?
1.
Gen. 32:28
2.
Gen. 41:45
3.
Dan. 1:7
In one sense, however, it is not that hard, even for modern minds, to
understand the significance of what a person is called. There are subtle
and, at times, not so subtle effects. If someone is constantly called
"stupid" or "ugly," and if those are the appellations used all the time by
a lot of people—sooner or later those names could have an impact on
how the person views himself or herself. In the same way, by giving
people certain names, or changing their names, it seems possible to
influence how they would view themselves and thus influence how
they would act.
With this in mind, it is not so hard to understand why God would
want to change Abram to Abraham. Abram means "Father is exalted";
God changed it to Abraham, which means "Father of a multitude."
When you look at the covenant promise in which God says " 'I will
make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and
kings shall come forth from you' " (Gen. 17:6, RSV), the name change
makes better sense. Perhaps it was God's way of helping Abraham trust
in the covenant promise that He was making with him (again, remember
the context of this promise, which was being made to a 99-year-old man
married to an old woman who had henceforth been barren). In short,
God did it to help increase Abraham's faith in God's promises to him.
33
Wednesday
January 22
COVENANT STAGES (Gen. 12:1, 2).
/
n those two verses, the first stage of God's covenant promise to
Abram (there are three) is revealed. God approached Abram, gave
him a command, and then made him a promise. The
approach
expresses God's gracious election of Abram to be the first major figure
of His special covenant of grace. The
command
involves the test of
total trust in God (Heb. 11:8). The
promise
(Gen. 12:1-3, 7), though made
specifically to Abram's descendants, ultimately includes a promise to
the whole human race (Gen. 12:3; Gal. 3:6-9).
The second stage of God's covenant with Abram appears in Genesis
15:7-18. In what verses do we find some of the same steps that appeared
in the first stage?
The approach of God to man? Verses?
The call to human obedience? Verses?
The divine promise? Verses?
In the solemn ritual of stage two, the Lord appeared to Abram and
passed between the carefully arranged pieces of animals. Each of the
three animals was slaughtered and divided and the two halves placed
one against the other, with a space between. The birds were killed but
not divided. Those entering into the covenant were to walk between the
divided pieces, symbolically vowing perpetual obedience to the provi-
sions thus solemnly agreed upon.
Describe what took place during the third and final stage of
divine covenant making with Abraham. See Genesis 17:1-14.
The meaning of the name
Abraham
underscores God's desire and
design to save all peoples. The "many nations" would include
both
Jews and Gentiles. The New Testament makes it abundantly clear that
the true descendants of Abraham are those who have the faith of
Abraham and who trust in the merits of the promised Messiah. (See
Gal. 3:7, 29.) Thus, as far back as Abraham, the Lord's intention was
to save as many human beings as He could, whatever nations they
lived in. No doubt, it's no different today.
Read Revelation 14:6, 7, the first angel's message. What parallels
can you find between what the angel is saying and what happened in
the Abrahamic covenant? In what ways are the issues the same?
34
Thursday
January 23
COVENANT OBLIGATIONS.
"For I know him, that he will command his children and his house-
hold after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and
judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath
spoken of him" (Gen. 18:19).
A
s we have seen so far, the covenant is always a covenant of
grace, of God doing for us what we could never do for our-
selves. There is no exception in the covenant with Abraham.
In His grace, God had chosen Abraham as His instrument to assist in
proclaiming the plan of salvation to the world. God's fulfillment of His
covenant promises was, however, linked to Abraham's willingness to
do righteously and to obey Him by faith. Without that obedience on
Abraham's part, God could not use him.
Genesis 18:19 demonstrates how grace and law are related. It opens
with
grace
("I know him") and is followed by the fact that Abraham is
someone who will obey the Lord and have his family obey, as well.
Faith and works, then, appear here in a close union, as they must. (See
James 2:17.)
Notice, however, the phrasing of Genesis 18:19, particularly
the last clause. What is it saying here about Abraham's obedi-
ence? Though obedience is not the means of salvation, what im-
portance is it given here? According to this text, could the cov-
enant be fulfilled without it? Explain your answer.
The blessings of the covenant could not be enjoyed or maintained
unless certain conditions were met by the beneficiaries. Though the
conditions were not needed to establish the covenant, they were to be
the responses of love, faith, and obedience. They were to be the
manifestation of a relationship between humankind and God. Obedi-
ence was the means by which God could fulfill His covenant promises
to the people.
Covenant breaking, through disobedience, is unfaithfulness to an
established relationship. When the covenant is broken, what is broken
is not the condition of bestowal but the condition of fulfillment.
In your own experience with the Lord, can you
see
why obedience
is so important? Can you think of any examples, either from the
Bible or from your own experience, where disobedience makes the
fulfillment of covenant promises impossible? If so, what are they,
and, more importantly, what is the remedy?
35
Friday
January 24
FURTHER STUDY:
T
he rainbow is a sign of God's covenant with Noah. Read Genesis
17:10 to discover what the sign of God's covenant was with
Abraham. Circumcision "was destined: (1) to distinguish the
seed of Abraham from the Gentiles (Eph. 2:11), (2) to perpetuate the
memory of Jehovah's covenant (Gen. 17:11), (3) to foster the cultivation
of moral purity (Deut. 10:16), (4) to represent righteousness by faith
(Rom. 4:11), (5) to symbolize circumcision of the heart (Rom. 2:29), and
(6) to foreshadow the Christian rite of baptism (Col. 2:11,
12)."—The
SDA Bible Commentary, vol.
1, pp. 322, 323.
The rainbow will remain as a sign of God's promise until the end of
the world, but the sign of circumcision will not. According to the
apostle Paul, circumcision was received by Abraham as a token of the
righteousness he had received by faith in God (Rom. 4:11). However,
through the centuries, circumcision came to signify salvation by obedi-
ence to the law. By New Testament times, circumcision had lost its
significance. Instead, the essential element is faith in Jesus Christ,
which leads to an obedient, transformed life. Read Galatians 5:6; 6:15
and 1 Corinthians 7:18, 19.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1.
Discuss the relationship between faith and works. Can there be
one without the other? If not, why not?
2.
"Many are still tested as was Abraham. They do not hear the
voice of God speaking directly from the heavens, but He calls
them by the teachings of His Word and the events of His provi-
dence. They may be required to abandon a career that promises
wealth and honor, to leave congenial and profitable associa-
tions, and separate from kindred, to enter upon what appears to
be only a path of self-denial, hardship, and sacrifice. God has a
work for them to do; but a life of ease and the influence of
friends and kindred would hinder the development of the very
traits essential for its accomplishment. He calls them away
from human influences and aid, and leads them to feel the
need of His help, and to depend upon Him alone, that He
may reveal Himself to them. Who is ready at the call of
Providence to renounce cherished plans and familiar asso-
ciations?"—Ellen G. White,
Patriarchs and Prophets,
pp. 126, 127. Discuss any contemporary examples of those
you know who heeded this same call.
SUMMARY:
God called Abraham into a special relationship with Him,
one that would reveal the plan of salvation to the world.
36
Welcome Into My Heart
Philip Follett
"I
am a sinner," the caller said," "but I would like to have a
Bible. I had one when I was a little girl, but
I
don't have it
anymore."
The caller, Luminita, was responding to a radio program called
"Voice of Hope," aired by Adventist World Radio in Romania.
Thus began a relationship with the radio staff that eventually led
Luminita to the Lord.
"I was born into an Orthodox family," Luminita told a staff
member. "When
I
was a very small child,
I
went to church and
prayed.
I
loved God. But when I was still young, I lost my dearest
and closest friend, my father."
Luminita blamed God for her tragic loss, and over the ensuing
years she built a wall around her heart to keep God out. As she
grew older, Luminita tried to fill the void in her life by working in
an orphanage, seeking to give to other children the love she had
missed so much. She married, hoping that this relationship would
fill the void in her life. Unfortunately, it did not.
Luminita started smoking, first as an amusement, but soon it
became an addiction. Through all of these experiences, the dis-
tance between her heart and God increased.
But while people may try to run away or build walls to keep
God out, God doesn't give up on them, Luminita discovered. She
found the "Voice of Hope" radio program, by chance, she thought.
The speaker invited people to telephone in their answers to Bible
questions and offered prizes for those with the correct answers.
Luminita took up the challenge. She didn't have a phone in her
house, so she walked to a public phone to call in her replies. She
asked to receive Bible lessons through the mail and studied them
carefully.
One day she reported, "My children and I are keeping the holy
Sabbath, Saturday. Since I began to worship on this day, I feel
much better spiritually and physically." She went on to thank God
for not giving up on her but instead showing her the path back to
Him. Her prayer today is, "Lord, You are welcome in my Heart!
Stay with me forever! I love You."
At the time he wrote this, Philip Follett
was special assistant to
the president of Adventist World Radio.
Produced by the Office of Mission
Sabbath School-Personal Ministries department of the General Conference
Email: gomission@gc.adventistorg
Lesson 5
*January25-31
Children of the Promise
Sabbath Afternoon
MEMORY TEXT: "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the
world" (Matthew 28:20).
A
father and his ten-year-old daughter were spending their holi-
day at the seashore. One day they went out to enjoy a swim in
the ocean and, although they were both good swimmers, some
distance out from shore they became separated. The father, realizing
that they were being carried out to sea by the tide, called to his child:
`Mary, I'm going to shore for help. If you get tired, turn on your back.
You can float all day that way.
I'll
come back for you.'
"Before long, many searchers and boats were scurrying over the
face of the water hunting for one small girl. Hundreds of people on the
shore had heard the news and were waiting anxiously. It was four hours
before they found her, far from land, but she was calmly floating on her
back and not at all frightened. Cheers and tears of joy and relief greeted
the rescuers when they came back to land with their precious burden,
but the child took it all calmly. She seemed to think it was strange the
way they acted. She said, 'Father said I could float all day on my back
and that he would come for me, so I just swam and floated, because I
knew he'd come.' "—H. M. S. Richards, "When Jesus Comes Back,"
Voice of Prophecy News,
March 1949, p. 5.
THE WEEK AT A GLANCE: Why did the Lord refer to Himself as
Abram's shield? How were "all the families of the earth" to be blessed
through Abraham? What is the greatest of all the covenant promises?
*Please study this week's lesson to prepare for Sabbath, February 1.
38
Sunday
January 26
THY SHIELD.
"After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a
vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding
great reward" (Gen. 15:1).
Read Genesis 15:1-3. Think of the context in which it was given.
Why would the first thing the Lord says to Abram be "Fear not"?
What would Abram have to fear?
W
hat is particularly interesting here is that the Lord says to
him that "I am
thy
shield." The use of the personal pronoun
shows the personal nature of the relationship. God will
relate to him one-on-one, the way He will with all of us.
The designation of God as a "shield" appears here for the first time
in the Bible and is the only time God uses it to reveal Himself, even if
other Bible writers use the term to speak
about
God (Deut. 33:29;
Pss. 18:30; 84:11; 144:2).
When God calls Himself someone's Shield, what does that mean?
Did it mean something to Abram that it might not mean to us now? Can
we claim that promise for ourselves? Does it mean no physical harm
will come? In what ways is God a shield? How do you understand that
image?
"Christ has not a casual interest in us but an interest stronger than a
mother for her child. . . . Our Saviour has purchased us by human
suffering and sorrow, by insult, reproach, abuse, mockery, rejection
and death. He is watching over you, trembling child of God. He will
make you secure under His protection. . . . Our weakness in human
nature will not bar our access to the heavenly Father, for He (Christ)
died to make intercession for us."—Ellen G. White,
Sons and Daugh-
ters
of
God,
p. 77.
Rolando had been, from all outward appearances, a faithful
follower of the Lord. Then, suddenly, he was killed in a car
wreck. What happened to God being his shield? Or must
we understand the idea of God as our shield in a different
manner? Explain. What does God always promise to shield us
from? See 1 Corinthians 10:13.
39
Monday
January 27
THE MESSIAH PROMISE: PART 1.
"In thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be
blessed" (Gen. 28:14).
"And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs
according to the promise" (Gal. 3:29).
M
ore than once the Lord said to Abraham that in his seed, his
offspring, all the nations of the earth would be blessed (see
also Gen. 12:3; 18:18; 22:18). This wonderful covenant prom-
ise is repeated, because of all the promises, this is the most important
one, the most enduring one, the one that makes all the others worth-
while. In one sense, this was a promise of the rise of the Jewish nation,
through whom the Lord wanted to teach "all the families of the earth"
about the true God and His plan of salvation. Yet, the promise reaches
complete fulfillment only in Jesus Christ, who came from the seed of
Abraham, the One who would at the Cross pay for the sins of "all the
families of the earth."
Think about the covenant promise made after the Flood (in
which the Lord promised not to destroy the world with water
again). What ultimate good would this be without the promise of
redemption found in Jesus? What ultimate good would any of God's
promises be without the promise of eternal life found in Christ?
How do you understand the notion that in Abraham, through Jesus,
"all the families of the earth" would be blessed? What does that mean?
No question, the covenant promise of the world's Savior is the
greatest of all God's promises. The Redeemer Himself becomes the
means
by which the obligations of the covenant arrangement are met
and all of its other promises are realized. All, Jew or Gentile, who
enter into union with Him are accounted as Abraham's true family and
inheritors of the promise (Gal. 3:8, 9, 27-29), that is—the promise of
eternal life in a sinless environment where evil, pain, and suffering
never again will arise. Can you think of a better promise than that?
What is it about the promise of eternal life in a world without sin
and suffering that has such a lure to us? Could it be that we long for
it because that's what we were originally created for and that by
longing for it we are longing for something that is basic to our
nature?
40
Tuesday
January 28
THE MESSIAH PROMISE: PART 2.
"To enjoy true happiness we must travel into a very far country, and
even out of ourselves." —Thomas Browne.
Look at the above quote, written in the 1600s. Do you agree or
disagree? Read it in the context of 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 and of
Revelation 3:12.
A
ugustine wrote of the human condition: "This life of ours—if a
life so full of such great ills can properly be called a life—bears
witness to the fact that, from its very start, the race of mortal
men has been a race condemned. Think, first, of the dreadful abyss of
ignorance from which all error flows and so engulfs the sons of Adam
in a darksome pool that no one can escape without the toll of toils and
tears and fears. Then, take our very love for all those things that prove
so vain and poisonous and breed so many heartaches, troubles, griefs,
and fears; such insane joys in discord, strife, and wars; such fraud and
theft and robbery; such perfidy and pride, envy and ambition, homi-
cide and murder, cruelty and savagery, lawlessness and lust; all the
shameless passions of the impure—fornication and adultery, incest
and unnatural sins, rape and countless other uncleannesses too nasty
to be mentioned; the sins against religion—sacrilege and heresy, blas-
phemy and perjury; the iniquities against our neighbors—calumnies
and cheating, lies and false witness, violence to persons and property;
the injustices of the courts and the innumerable other miseries and
maladies that fill the world, yet escape attention."—Augustine of
Hippo,
City of God,
Gerald G. Walsh, S. J. trans. (New York: Doubleday
& Co., 1958), book 22, chap. 22, p. 519.
Augustine's quote could apply to most modern cities today; yet, he
wrote it more than fifteen hundred years ago. Little about humanity
has changed, which is why people want an escape.
Fortunately, however tough our situation now, the future is bright
but only because of what God did for us through the life, death,
resurrection, and high-priestly ministry of Jesus Christ—the ultimate
fulfillment of the covenant promise made to Abraham that, in his seed,
all the families of the earth will be blessed.
Look at the quote from Augustine. Write something in your own
words to describe the sad situation in the world today. At the same
time, look up whatever Bible texts you can find that talk about
what God has promised us in Jesus Christ (for example, Isa. 25:8;
1 Cor. 2:9; Rev. 22:1-5). Dwell on those promises. Make them your
own. Only then can you truly grasp what the covenant is all about.
41
Wednesday
January 29
A
GREAT AND MIGHTY NATION .. .
N
ot only did God promise Abraham that in him would all the
families of the earth be blessed; the Lord said that He would
make of him a "great and mighty nation" (Gen. 18:18; see also
Gen. 12:2; 46:3)—quite a promise to a man married to a woman past
child-bearing age. Thus, when Abraham was without descendants,
much less a son, God promised him both.
Yet, this promise was not completely fulfilled while Abraham was
alive. Neither did Isaac nor Jacob see it come to pass. God repeated it
to Jacob, with the added information that the promise would be ful-
filled in Egypt (Gen. 46:3), though Jacob really did not see it, either.
Eventually, of course, that promise was fulfilled.
Why did the Lord want to make a special nation out of Abraham's
seed? Did the Lord just want another country of certain ethnic origin?
What purposes
was
this nation to fulfill? Read Exodus 19:5, 6;
Isaiah 60:1-3; and Deuteronomy 4:6-8; and on the lines below,
write out your answer:
It seems evident from Scripture that God purposed to attract the
nations of the world to Himself through the witness of Israel, which
would be, under His blessing, a happy, healthy, and holy people. Such
a nation would demonstrate the blessing that attends obedience to the
will of the Creator. The multitudes of earth would be drawn to worship
the true God (Isa. 56:7). Thus, the attention of humanity would be
drawn toward Israel, their God, and the Messiah, who was to appear in
their midst, the Savior of the world.
"The children of Israel were to occupy all the territory which
God appointed them. Those nations that rejected the worship and
service of the true God were to be dispossessed. But it was God's
purpose that by the revelation of His character through Israel men
should be drawn unto Him. To all the world the gospel invitation
was to be given. Through the teaching of the sacrificial service
Christ was to be uplifted before the nations, and all who would
look unto Him should live."—Ellen G. White,
Christ's Object
Lessons,
p. 290.
Can you see any parallels between what the Lord wanted to do
through Israel and what He wants to do through our church? If so,
what are those parallels? Read 1 Peter 2:9.
42
Thursday
January 30
"MAKE YOUR NAME GREAT."
"And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and
make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing" (Gen. 12:2).
In Genesis 12:2, God promises to make Abram's name great—that is, to
make him famous. Why would the Lord want to do that for any sinner, no
matter how obedient and faithful? Who deserves a "great" name? (See
Rom. 4:1-5; James 2:21-24.) Did God bestow greatness on Abram for his
own personal benefit, or did it represent something more? Explain.
Compare Genesis 11:4 with Genesis 12:2. What is the big differ-
ence between the two? In what ways does one represent "salvation by
works" and the other "salvation by faith"?
H
owever much the plan of salvation rests only upon the work of
Christ in our behalf, we—as recipients of God's grace—are,
nevertheless, still involved. We have a role to play; our free
choice comes into prominence. The drama of the ages, the battle be-
tween Christ and Satan, is still being played out in and through us. Both
humanity and angels are watching what is happening with us in the
conflict (1 Cor. 4:9). Thus, who we are, what we say, what we do, far from
having no importance beyond our own immediate sphere, has implica-
tions that can, in a sense, reverberate across the universe. By our
words, our actions, even our attitudes, we can help bring glory to the
Lord, who has done so much for us, or we can bring shame upon Him
and His name. Thus, when the Lord said to Abraham that He would
make his name great, He surely was not talking about it in the same way
the world talks about someone having a great name. What makes a
name great in the eyes of God is character, faith, obedience, humility,
and love for others, traits that while they might often be respected in the
world are not usually the factors the world would deem as making
someone's name great.
Look at some of the men and women who have "great" names in
the world today, be they actors, politicians, artists, the wealthy,
whoever. What is it about these people that has made them famous?
Contrast that with the greatness of Abraham. What does that tell us
about how perverted the world's concept of greatness is? How much
of that worldly attitude impacts our view of greatness, as well?
43
Friday
January 31
FURTHER STUDY:
For more information on this week's topic,
read Ellen G. White,
Patriarchs and Prophets,
"Abraham in Canaan,"
pp. 132-144; "The Test of Faith," pp. 145-155.
/
t was no light test that was thus brought upon Abraham, no small
sacrifice that was required of him. . . . But he did not hesitate to obey
the call. He had no question to ask concerning the land of promise. . . .
God had spoken, and His servant must obey; the happiest place on earth
for him was the place where God would have him to
be."—Patriarchs
and Prophets,
p. 126.
When Abram entered Canaan, the Lord appeared to him and made it
clear that he was to sojourn in the land that would be given to his
descendants (Gen. 12:7). God repeated this promise several times (see
Gen. 13:14, 15, 17; 15:13, 16, 18; 17:8; 28:13, 15; 35:12). Some four
hundred years later, in fulfillment of the promise (Gen. 15:13, 16), the
Lord announced to Moses that He would bring Israel out of Egypt into
a land flowing with milk and honey (Exod. 3:8, 17; 6:8). God repeated the
promise to Joshua (Josh. 1:3), and in David's day it was largely, but not
completely, fulfilled (Gen. 15:18-21; 2 Sam. 8:1-14; 1 Kings 4:21; 1 Chron.
19:1-19).
Now read Hebrews 11:9, 10, 13-16. These verses make it clear that
Abraham and the other faithful patriarchs viewed Canaan as a symbol,
or a foreshadowing, of the ultimate settled home of God's redeemed
people. In the sin situation, no permanent home is possible. Life is
fleeting, like "a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes"
(James 4:14, RSV). As the spiritual descendants of Abraham, we, too,
must realize that "here we do not have an enduring city, but we are
looking for the city that is to come" (Heb. 13:14, NIV). The certainty
of the future life with Christ keeps us steady in this present world of
change and decay.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1.
What effect should God's promise of a new earth have on
our personal Christian experience? (Compare Matt. 5:5;
2 Cor. 4:17, 18; Rev. 21:9, 10; 22:17.)
2.
"True greatness was to result from compliance with God's
commands and cooperation with His divine purpose."—TheSDA
Bible Commentary, vol.
1, p. 293. Discuss what this statement
means.
SUMMARY:
Promises! How precious they are to the believer! Will they
be fulfilled? Faith answers Yes.
44
Estranged Couple Finds New Life
J. H. Zachary
At age 16 Natalia eloped with Mikhail. Natalia did not get along
with her mother and did not visit her for eight years. But the pain of
separation made her miserable.
Natalia's husband, Mikhail, had been raised as an atheist. He tried
to live by his own wisdom, but he had no peace. He tried praying and
found that God answered his prayers, but when he visited the only
Christian church he knew, he found only dead ceremonies.
Then he met Natalia. She brought happiness to his life, but still
Mikhail felt a nagging emptiness inside. His father developed lung
cancer, and the young couple cared for him until he died. But a woman
who said she and Mikhail's father were married demanded the home
Mikhail's father had left them.
Other problems came, and the young couple began arguing. It
seemed that divorce was imminent. One day Mikhail overdosed on
drugs, hoping to die. Although he took enough drugs to kill an
elephant, he survived. Mikhail realized that God had spared his life.
Then Natalia learned that her mother had joined a dangerous
religious sect.
I have lost my mother forever!
she thought. One day
Natalia answered her door to find her mother standing there. This
proud woman had come to apologize and make peace with her daugh-
ter. As they talked, Natalia realized the wonderful changes in her
mother. The two women were joyfully reconciled.
Natalia's mother told her about God and introduced her to the
Adventist church. Natalia and Mikhail agreed to go to church with her.
The church was so different from other Christian churches. For the
first time, the couple felt the presence of God.
Their lives quickly changed, and on a cold winter day, the couple
were baptized in the sea near their Russian home. "Those watching
wore heavy coats, while we wore white robes. But we did not feel the
cold, for we were wrapped
in God's love," they said.
"Jesus has completely
changed our lives. He has
given us a new life together
with Him."
Mikhail and Natalia (left).
J. H. Zachary is coordinator
of international evangelism
for The Quiet
Hour.
Produced by the Office of Mission
Sabbath School-Personal Ministries department of the General Conference
Email: gomission@gc.adventistorg
45
Lesson 6
*February1-7
Abraham's Seed
Sabbath Afternoon
MEMORY TEXT: "You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a
holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the
praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful
light" (1 Peter 2:9, NIV).
I
N A SMALL TOWN,
the clock in the jeweler's window stopped one
day at a quarter to nine. Many of the citizens had been depending
on this clock to know the time. On this particular morning, business-
men and women glanced in the window and noticed it was only fifteen
minutes to nine; children on their way to school were surprised to find
they still had plenty of time to loiter. Many persons were late that
morning because one small clock in the jeweler's window had stopped.
—C. L. Paddock,
God's Minutes
(Nashville, Tenn.: Southern Publishing
Association, 1965), p. 244; adapted.
How accurate a representation of ancient Israel's failure. The Lord
placed Israel "in the midst of the nations" (Ezek. 5:5)—in the strategic
bridgeland between three continents (Africa, Europe, and Asia). They
were to be the spiritual "clock" of the world.
Israel, however, like the clock in the jeweler's window, in a sense,
stopped. Yet, it was not a total failure; for then, as today, God has His
faithful remnant. Our study this week focuses on the identity and role of
God's true Israel in every age, including our own.
THE WEEK AT A GLANCE: What covenant promises did the Lord
make to Israel? What conditions came with them? How well did the
nation abide by those promises? What happened when they disobeyed?
*Please study this week's lesson to prepare for Sabbath, February 8.
46
Sunday
February 2
"ABOVE ALL PEOPLE. . . ."
"For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy
God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all
people that are upon the face of the earth" (Dent. 7:6).
T
here is no question about it: The Lord specifically had chosen
the Hebrew people to be His special representatives upon the
earth. The word translated "special" in the above verse,
segulah,
can mean "valued property" or "peculiar treasure." The crucial point to
remember, too, is that this choice was totally the act of God, an expres-
sion of His grace. There was nothing found in the people themselves
that made them deserve this grace. There couldn't be, because grace is
something that comes undeserved.
Read Ezekiel 16:8. How does that help explain the Lord's choosing
of Israel?
"Why was Israel chosen by Yahweh? That was inscrutable. She
was a small group of people without great culture or prestige. She
possessed no special personal qualities which would warrant such a
choice. The election was the act of God alone. . . . The ultimate cause
for that choice lay in the mystery of divine love. Yet the fact is that
God
did
love Israel and
did
choose her, thereby honouring His prom-
ise to the fathers. . . . She had been chosen in virtue of Yahweh's love
for her. She had been liberated from slavery in Egypt by a display of
Yahweh's power. Let her once grasp these great facts and she would
realize that she was indeed a holy and a specially treasured people.
Any tendency on her part, therefore, to surrender such a noble status
was reprehensible in the extreme."—J. A. Thompson,
Deuteronomy
(London: Inter-Varsity Press, 1974), pp. 130, 131.
According to the divine plan, the Israelites were to be both a royal
and a priestly race. In an evil world they were to be kings, moral and
spiritual, in that they were to prevail over the realm of sin (Rev. 20:6).
As priests, they were to draw near to the Lord in prayer, in praise, and in
sacrifice. As intermediaries between God and the heathen, they were to
serve as instructors, preachers, and prophets and were to be examples
of holy living—Heaven's exponents of true religion.
Look at the phrase in the verse for today, in which the Lord says
that they were to be "above all people ... of the earth." Considering
all the Word has taught about the virtue of humility and the
danger of pride, what do you think that verse means? In what
ways
were they to be "above" all the people? Should we apply that idea
to us, as a church, as well? If so, how?
47
Monday
February 3
LAND DEAL (Gen. 35:12).
T
he promise that a land would be given to God's people, Israel,
was first given to Abraham and then repeated to Isaac and Jacob.
Joseph's deathbed words repeated this promise (Gen. 50:24).
God informed Abraham, however, that "four hundred years" would
pass before the seed of Abram would take possession of the land (Gen.
15:13, 16). Fulfillment of the promise began in the days of Moses and
Joshua. Moses repeated the divine command: " ' "Behold, I have set
the land before you; go in and take possession of the land" ' " (Deut.
1:8, RSV).
Read Deuteronomy 28:1, 15. What is implied in these words? In
short, the land would be given to them as part of the covenant. A
covenant implies obligations. What obligations did Israel have?
The first part of Deuteronomy 28 outlines the blessings Israel would
receive if they followed God's will. The other section of the chapter
deals with the curses that would befall them if they did not. These curses
were "largely, though not wholly, brought about by simply giving sin
scope to work out its own evil results. . . . 'He that soweth to the flesh
shall of the flesh reap corruption' (Gal. vi. 8). Like water, which, left to
itself, will not cease running till it has found its level; like a clock,
which, left to itself, will not cease going till it has run itself completely
down; like a tree, which, left to grow, cannot but bring forth its appro-
priate fruit;—so sin has a level to seek, a course to run, a fruit to mature,
and 'the end of those things is death' (Rom. vi.
21)."—The Pulpit
Commentary.• Deuteronomy,
H. D. M. Spence and Joseph S. Exell, eds.
(Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 1890), vol. 3, p. 439.
Despite all the promises of land, those promises were not uncondi-
tional. They came as part of a covenant. Israel had to fulfill her end of
the bargain; if not, the promises could be nullified. The Lord made it
very clear, more than once, that if they disobeyed, the land would be
taken from them. Read Leviticus 26:27-33. It's hard to imagine how the
Lord could have been more explicit with His words.
As Christians, we look forward to receiving and keeping the
promised lands of heaven and the earth made new. They have
been promised to us, just as the earthly Promised Land was to
the Hebrews. The difference, however, is that once we get there,
there is no chance of us ever losing it (Dan. 7:18). At the same
time, there are conditions for us to get there. How do you under-
stand what these conditions are, especially in the context of
salvation by faith alone?
48
Tuesday
February 4
ISRAEL AND THE COVENANT.
"Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every
one in the imagination of their evil heart: therefore I will bring
upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded
them to do; but they did them not" (Jer. 11:8).
L
ook at the above text. The Lord says that He will bring upon them
"all the words of this covenant."
Yet, He is talking about some-
thing bad!
Though we tend to think of the covenant as offering us
only something good, there's the flip side. This principle was seen with
Noah. God offered Noah something wonderful—preservation from de-
struction, but Noah had to obey in order to receive the blessings of
God's grace. If he did not, the other side of the covenant would follow.
Compare the above text with Genesis 6:5, regarding the pre-
Flood world. What's the parallel? What do these verses say about
how important it is we control our thoughts?
Unfortunately, the history of national Israel was, for the most part, a
repeated pattern of apostasy, followed by divine judgments,
repentance, and a period of obedience. Only briefly, under David and
Solomon, did they control the full extent of the promised territory.
Look at these texts from Jeremiah regarding Israel's apostasy. "They
say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become
another man's, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be
greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet
return again to me, saith the Lord. . . . Surely as a wife treacherously
departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, 0
house of Israel, saith the Lord" (Jer. 3:1, 20).
This brings up something touched upon earlier: The covenant God
wants with us is not merely a cold legal agreement made between
business people looking to cut the best deal for themselves. The cov-
enant relationship is a commitment, one as serious and sacred as mar-
riage, which is why the Lord uses the imagery that He does.
The point is that Israel's apostasy did not have its root in disobedi-
ence but in a broken personal relationship with the Lord, a break that
resulted in disobedience that finally brought punishment upon them.
Why is the personal, relational aspect so crucial in the Chris-
tian life? Why, if our relationship with God isn't right, are we so
prone to fall into sin and disobedience? Also, what would you say
to someone who asked this question: "How can I develop a deep,
loving relationship with God?"
49
Wednesday
February 5
THE REMNANT.
Despite Israel's repeated cycle of apostasy, divine judgments,
and repentance, what hope is found in these texts?
Isa. 4:3
Mic.
4:6, 7
Zeph. 3:12,13
Ae
lthough God's plan for ancient Israel was spoiled by disobedi-
nce, it was never completely frustrated. Among the weeds, a
ew flowers still grew. Many of the Old Testament prophets
speak of this faithful remnant, whom God would gather unto Himself
as a lovely bouquet.
The purpose of God in creating and preserving a faithful remnant
was the same as it had been for all of Israel—to use them as His
divinely appointed instruments for declaring " 'my glory among the
nations' " (Isa. 66:19, RSV). By this means, others would join the
faithful to "worship the King, the Lord of hosts" (Zech. 14:16, RSV).
Thus, no matter how bad the situation became, God always had some
faithful people who, despite apostasy within the ranks of God's chosen
people, kept their own calling and election sure (2 Pet. 1:10). In short,
whatever the failings of the nation as a whole, there were still those who
tried to keep, the best they could, their end of the covenant (see, for
instance, 1 Kings 19:14-18). And though, perhaps, they suffered with
their nation as a whole (such as exile from the land), the final and
ultimate covenant promise will be theirs, that of eternal life.
Read John 10:27, 28. What is Jesus saying there? Apply His
words, and the promises in them, to the situation regarding
apostasy in ancient Israel. How do these words help explain the
existence of a faithful remnant?
A few years ago, a young woman gave up her Christian faith
entirely, mostly because she was discouraged by the sin, apos-
tasy, and hypocrisy she saw in her local church. "Those people
weren't really Christians," she said, using that as an excuse to
give up everything. Basing your answer on the principles of
today's lesson, why is her excuse so lame?
50
Thursday
February 6
SPIRITUAL ISRAEL.
W
hatever the mistakes and failings of ancient Israel, the Lord
was not finished with the plan of creating a faithful people to
serve Him. In fact, the Old Testament looked forward to a
time when the Lord would create a spiritual Israel, a faithful body of
believers, Jews and Gentiles, who would carry on the work of preaching
the gospel to the world. Welcome to the early church.
Read Galatians 3:26-29.
1.
What promise is Paul talking about in verse 29?
2.
What is the key element that makes a person an heir to these
promises? Vs. 26.
3.
Why is Paul breaking down distinctions of gender, national-
ity, and social status?
4.
What does it mean to be "one in Christ"?
5.
Read Romans 4:16, 17. How do these verses help
us under-
stand
what Paul is saying in Galatians 3:26-29?
As a son of Abraham, Christ became, in a special sense, heir to the
covenant promises. By baptism we acquire kinship to Christ and
through Him acquire the right to participate in the promises made to
Abraham. Thus, all that God promised Abraham is found in Christ,
and the promises become ours, not because of nationality, race, or
gender but through grace, which God bestows upon us through faith.
"The gift to Abraham and his seed included not merely the land of
Canaan, but the whole earth. So says the apostle, 'The promise, that he
should be the
heir of the world,
was not to Abraham, or to his seed,
through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.' Romans 4:13.
And the Bible plainly teaches that the promises made to Abraham are to
be fulfilled through Christ. . . . [Believers become] heirs to 'an inherit-
ance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away' [1 Peter
1:4]—the earth freed from the curse of sin."—Ellen G. White,
Patriarchs
and Prophets,
p. 170. This promise will be fulfilled literally when the
saints live on the new earth forever and ever with Christ (Dan. 7:27).
51
Friday
February
7
FURTHER STUDY: See Ellen G. White,
Prophets and Kings,
"The
Vineyard of the Lord," pp. 15-22; "Hope for the Heathen,"
pp. 367-378; " 'The House of Israel,' " pp. 703-721.
N
o distinction on account of nationality, race, or caste, is recog-
nized by God. He is the Maker of all mankind. All men are of one
family by creation, and all are one through redemption. Christ
came to demolish every wall of partition, to throw open every compart-
ment of the temple courts, that every soul may have free access to God.
His love is so broad, so deep, so full, that it penetrates everywhere. It
lifts out of Satan's influence those who have been deluded by his
deceptions, and places them within reach of the throne of God, the
throne encircled by the rainbow of promise. In Christ there is neither
Jew nor Greek, bond nor free."—Ellen G. White,
Prophets and Kings,
pp. 369,370.
Read 1 Peter 2:9, 10 to discover the four titles Peter applies to the
church. Most of these titles are reflected in the following Old Testa-
ment texts that refer to Israel: Exodus 19:6; Isaiah 43:20. What does
each of these titles emphasize about the church's relationship to God?
(For example, the title "chosen nation" emphasizes the fact that God
chose the church and has a specific destiny for it.)
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1.
In ancient Israel, the priests made animal sacrifices that pointed
to the Messiah. As members of a royal priesthood, what types
of "sacrifices" are church members to make? 1 Pet. 2:5.
2.
God separated Israel from the world so it could be a holy
nation. They also were to share salvation truths with the world.
The same is true for the church today. How is it possible to be
separate from the world while at the same time to be in a
position to share the gospel with the world? How does Israel's
experience and Jesus' example help us answer this question?
3.
God always maintained a remnant with ancient Israel. Con-
sider Elijah and the remnant that existed during his time (1
Kings 19; note especially vs. 18). Why is it often easier to be
true to God in the midst of worldly people than in the midst
of backsliding members of one's own church family?
SUMMARY:
God's true Israel (whether before or after the Cross) is
the Israel of faith, persons who live in a spiritual, covenant relation-
ship with Him. Such function as His representatives, holding out to
the world the gospel of His saving grace.
52
AM\
A Reason to Be Happy
Charlotte Ishkanian
Even when Sergio's father was not drunk, he was mean, and
when he is drunk, he is brutal. One day in a drunken rage, Sergio's
father forced 14-year-old Sergio out of the house. With nowhere
else to go, Sergio moved in with his cousin. Pablo lives in a single
room, but he welcomed Sergio, for he knew what his home life was
like.
Sergio noticed that Pablo always seemed happy and peaceful.
What
does he know that I don't know?
Sergio wondered. As he watched his
cousin, Sergio began to sense that it was his faith in God that made the
difference.
One day Pablo's pastor invited Sergio to evangelistic meetings.
Sergio hesitated, but when Pablo told him about the movies and special
music planned for the meetings, he agreed to go.
During one meeting, Sergio sat thinking of what it meant to accept
Christ as his Savior. During the choir's special song, Sergio whispered
to a pastor who was sitting nearby, "I want to accept Jesus as my
Savior." The pastor realized that Sergio knew very little about spiritual
things, but he recognized that God was speaking to the boy. After the
meeting, he offered to study the Bible with Sergio, so he would know
more about what it meant to follow Jesus.
Sergio invited his family to the evangelistic meetings, but they were
not interested. Sometimes he felt that his entire family had rejected
him. But a family in the church has taken him under their wing and
help him as they can, and Pablo encourages him spiritually.
Sergio wants to finish school, so he can have a better life than his
parents have. But he is not sure how long his mother will be able to pay his
school fees. The future still does not look bright for Sergio, but he knows
that God will not desert him, even though
others have. He prays that Jesus will stay
by him and give him strength.
The pastor says that Sergio is deter-
mined to follow God. He sees God at
work through Sergio to make a differ-
ence in the lives of the church mem-
bers and his own family.
Sergio Saban Chun (left) lives in
Guatemala City, Guatemala, where he is
in
the seventh grade. Charlotte Ishkanian
is editor of
Mission.
.Produced by the Office of Mission
Sabbath School-Personal Ministries department of
the General Conference
Email: gomission@gc.adventist.org
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Lesson 7
*February8-14
Covenant at Sinai
Sabbath Afternoon
MEMORY TEXT: " 'You have seen what I did to the Egyptians,
and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to
myself' " (Exodus 19:4, RSV).
A
LITTLE BOY, one of
seven children, met with an accident
and was taken to the hospital. In his home there was seldom
enough of anything. He never had more than just a part of a
glass of milk. If the glass was full, it was shared by two of the children,
and whoever drank first had to be careful not to drink too far. After the
little fellow was made comfortable in the hospital, the nurse brought
him a large glass of milk. He looked at it longingly for a moment and
then, with the memory of privations at home, asked, 'How deep shall I
drink?' The nurse, with her eyes shining and a lump in her throat, said,
`Drink it all, child, drink it all!' "—H. M. S. Richards, "Free Grace,"
Voice of Prophecy News,
June 1950, p. 4.
Like this boy, it was the privilege of ancient Israel, as it is our own, to
drink deeply from the wells of salvation. Israel's deliverance from centu-
ries of slavery and oppression was a marvelous exhibition of Divine
grace. Likewise, Divine grace is involved in our own liberation from sin.
THE WEEK AT A GLANCE: What imagery did the Lord use to
describe His relationship with Israel? In what ways do the stories
of the Exodus and Sinai parallel personal salvation? What was the
role of the law in the Sinai covenant?
*Please study this week's lesson to prepare for Sabbath, February
15.
56
Sunday
February 9
ON EAGLES' WINGS.
A
s a people, Israel had been immersed in Egyptian paganism for
many long, hard centuries, an experience that no doubt dimmed
their knowledge of God, His will, and His goodness.
How could the Lord win them back to Himself?
For starters, He would demonstrate the genuineness of His love for
Israel, and He did this through His mighty acts of deliverance. He
would begin to woo the nation into a loving response to His covenant
proposal. God first reminded the nation of His gracious acts in their
behalf at Sinai.
What two illustrations describe the manner in which
the Lord
brought Israel from Egypt to Sinai?
Exod. 19:4; Deut. 32:10-12
Deut. 1:29-31; Hos. 11:1
What would these illustrations teach Israel (and us) about the
nature of God's attitude toward His people?
These illustrations indicate that our God is very much aware of our
helplessness. Read Psalm 103:13, 14, NIV. In both the figures of the
eagle and the parent carrying his child, we sense God's concern for our
well-being. Tender, supportive, protective, encouraging, His desire is to
bring us to full maturity.
"The eagle was known for its unusual devotions to its young. It too
lived on mountain tops. In teaching its young to fly it carried them upon
its back to those great heights that overlook the plains of Sinai, then it
dropped them down into the depths. If the baby was still too young and
too bewildered to fly, father-eagle would swoop down beneath it, catch
it on his back, and fly up again with it to the eyrie on the crags above.
And that, says the divine voice, is 'how I brought you out of Egypt to
myself.' "—George A. F. Knight,
Theology of Narration
(Grand Rap-
ids, Mich.:William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1976), p. 128.
Contrast God's interest in us with our interest in one another.
How should His concern for us affect our concern for others?
Based on your personal experience, what illustrations can you
think of to describe God's unselfish interest in us? Make up a few
images on your own, from your own experiences; draw also from
whatever culture you live in. Share them with the class.
57
Monday
February 10
THE PATTERN OF SALVATION.
" 'Say therefore to the people of Israel, "I am the Lord, and I
will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I
will deliver you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an
outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment, and I will take
you for my people, and I will be your God; and you shall know
that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from
under the burdens of the Egyptians" ' " (Exod. 6:6, 7, RSV).
Look at the above verses: What principle do we see in them, as
before, regarding the role of God toward humanity in the covenant
relationship (focus on how often the word
I
appears in those verses)?
T
he deliverance of Israel from Egyptian slavery and the deliver-
ance of Noah and his family from the Flood are the two prominent
salvific events in the writings of Moses. Both provide insights into
the science of salvation. But it is the Exodus event in particular that
provides the basic pattern.
When God says to Israel (through Moses)
"I
will
redeem
you"
(Exod. 6:6), He literally says "I will act the
redeemer-kinsman"
or
go 'el.
"The word
redeem
in verse 6 [of Exodus 6] refers to a member of a
family buying back or ransoming another member of the family, espe-
cially when that member was in slavery for debt or about to go into
slavery. Israel apparently had no earthly relative to redeem her, but God
was now Israel's relative, her kinsman redeemer."—Bernard L. Ramm,
His Way Out
(Glendale, Calif.: Regal Books Division, G/L Publications,
1974), p. 50.
How do you understand the idea of God "ransoming," or
buying back, His people from slavery? What was the price that
had to be paid? What does that tell us about our worth? See
Mark 10:45; 1 Timothy 2:6; Revelation 5:9.
In Exodus 3:8 God says that He has "come down" to rescue
Israel. This is a common Hebrew verb for God's interaction with
humanity. God is in heaven, and we are on earth, and only as God
"comes down" to earth can He redeem us. In the truest sense of the
idea, only when Jesus came down, lived, suffered, died, and was
resurrected for us can we be redeemed. "And the Word became
flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14, RSV) is another way of
saying that God
came down
in order to save us.
58
Tuesday
February 11
THE SINAI COVENANT.
T
he book of Exodus draws the reader's attention to three major
events. Like three mountains, the Exodus itself, the establish-
ment of the covenant, and the building of the tabernacle-sanctuary
rise above the foothills of lesser happenings. The establishment of the
covenant, recorded in Exodus 19 through 24, was the Mount Everest of
the three. A brief outline of Exodus 19 through 24 shows the sequence
and the relationship of events.
Even if you do not have the time to look up all
the verses listed
below, focus on the sequence of events:
1.
Israel's arrival and encampment at Sinai after being delivered
by the Lord (19:1, 2)
2.
God's proposal of a covenant with Israel (19:3-6)
3.
Israel's response in acceptance of the covenant (19:7, 8)
4.
Preparations for formally receiving the covenant (19:9-25)
5.
Proclamation of the Ten Commandments (20:1-17)
6.
Moses as covenant mediator (20:18-21)
7.
Covenant principles spelled out (20:22 to 23:22)
8.
Ratification of the covenant (24:1-18)
This covenant plays a vital role in the plan of salvation. It is the
fourth covenant listed in the Bible (preceded by the ones with Adam,
Noah, and Abraham), and in it God reveals Himself more fully than
before, particularly as the entire sanctuary ritual is established. Thus,
the sanctuary becomes the means by which He shows the people the
plan of salvation that they were to reveal to the world.
Though the Lord had redeemed Israel from the bondage of Egypt, He
wanted them to understand that redemption had a greater, more signifi-
cant meaning than merely freedom from physical bondage. He wanted to
redeem them from sin, the ultimate slavery, and this could happen only
through the sacrifice of the Messiah, as taught in the types and symbols of
the sanctuary service. It is no wonder, then, that not long after they were
redeemed from bondage, and given the law, the Israelites were instructed
to build the sanctuary service, for in it God revealed to them the plan of
redemption—which is the true meaning and purpose of the covenant. For
the covenant is nothing if not a covenant of salvation, the salvation that
the Lord offers to fallen humanity. That is what it was in Eden, and that is
what it was at Sinai.
Why was a covenant between God and the people of Israel a
necessity? See Deuteronomy 29:10-13 (notice, again, the relational
aspect of the covenant).
59
Wednesday
February 12
GOD AND ISRAEL.
"Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my
covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all
people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom
of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt
speak unto the children of Israel" (Exod. 19:5, 6).
/
n these verses the Lord is proposing His covenant with the children
of Israel. Though in one sense the Lord has called them, that calling
is not automatically bestowed upon them without their choice. They
had to cooperate. Even their deliverance from Egypt involved their
cooperation: If they did not do what the Lord said (such
as putting the blood on the doorposts), they would not have been
delivered. It was that simple.
Here, too, the Lord does not say to them, "Whether you like it or
don't like it—you will be a peculiar treasure unto me and a nation of
priests." That is not how it works, and that is not what the text says.
Read Exodus 19:5, 6, quoted above. How do you understand
what the Lord is saying in the context of salvation by faith? Does
the command in there to obey the Lord somehow nullify the
concept of salvation by grace? How do the following texts help
you understand the answer: Romans 3:19-24; Romans 6:1, 2;
Romans
7:7;
Revelation 14:12?
"We do not earn salvation by our obedience; for salvation is the free
gift of God, to be received by faith. But obedience is the fruit of faith."
—Ellen G. White,
Steps to Christ,
p. 61.
Think of what the Lord was willing to do for the nation of Israel: Not
only did He miraculously deliver them from Egyptian bondage, but He
wanted to make them His own treasured possession, a nation of priests.
Basing their relationship with Him upon His salvation (both temporal, as
from Egyptian slavery, and eternal), the Lord sought to elevate them to a
spiritual, intellectual, and moral level that would make them the wonder
of the ancient world. All for the purpose of using them to preach the
gospel to the nations. All they had to do, in response, was obey.
In what ways should our personal, one-on-one experience
with the Lord reflect that same principle we
see
here in today's
lesson?
60
Thursday
February 13
PROMISES, PROMISES . . . (Exod. 19:8).
A
t first sight, all seems well. The Lord delivers His people, offers
them the covenant promises, and they agree: They will do
all
the Lord asks them to do. It is a deal "made in heaven," right?
Read the following texts. What insight do they give us regarding
Israel's response to the covenant?
Rom. 9:31, 32
Rom. 10:3
Heb. 4:1, 2
Whatever God asks us to do, our relationship with Him must be
founded upon faith. Faith provides the basis upon which works follow.
Works, in and of themselves, no matter how purely motived, no matter
how sincere, no matter how numerous, can't make us acceptable in the
sight of a holy God. They could not in Israel's time, and they cannot in
our time, as well.
If, however, the Bible over and over stresses works, why can't
works make us acceptable in God's sight? See Isaiah 53:6; 64:6;
Romans 3:23.
Unfortunately, the Hebrew people believed that their obedience
became the means of their salvation, not the result of salvation. They
sought righteousness in their obedience to the law, not the
righteous-
ness of God,
which comes by faith. The Sinai covenant—though
coming with a much more detailed set of instructions and laws—was
designed a covenant of grace as much as all the preceding covenants,
as well. This grace, freely bestowed, brings about a change of heart
that leads to obedience. The problem, of course, was not their attempt
to obey (the covenant demanded that they obey); the problem was the
kind of "obedience" they rendered, which wasn't really obedience at
all, as the subsequent history of the nation showed.
Read carefully Romans 10:3, particularly the last part. What
point is Paul making there? What happens to people who seek to
establish their own righteousness? Why does that attempt inevita-
bly lead to sin, unrighteousness, and rebellion? Look at our own
lives. Are we not in danger of doing the same thing?
61
Friday
February 14
FURTHER STUDY:
T
he spirit of bondage is engendered by seeking to live in accord-
ance with legal religion, through striving to fulfill the claims of
the law in our own strength. There is hope for us only as we
come under the Abrahamic covenant, which is the covenant of grace
by faith in Christ Jesus. The gospel preached to Abraham, through
which he had hope, was the same gospel that is preached to us today,
through which we have hope. Abraham looked unto Jesus, who is also
the Author and the Finisher of our faith."—Ellen G. White Comments,
The SDA Bible Commentary,
vol. 6, p. 1077.
"During the bondage in Egypt many of the Israelites had, to a great
extent, lost the knowledge of God's law, and had mingled its precepts
with heathen customs and traditions. God brought them to Sinai, and
there with His own voice declared His law."—Ellen G. White,
Patriarchs
and Prophets,
p. 334.
To learn more about this week's topic, read
Patriarchs and Proph-
ets,
"The Exodus," pp. 281-290; "From the Red Sea to Sinai,"
pp. 291-302; "The Law Given to Israel," pp. 303-314.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1.
In what ways was the covenant relationship designed to main-
tain Israel's physical and spiritual freedoms? See Leviticus
26:3-13; compare Deuteronomy 28:1-15.
2.
Read again Exodus 19:5, 6. Notice that the Lord makes this
statement, "All the earth is mine." Why would He say that,
particularly in this context, that of seeking to establish a cov-
enant with these people? How does our understanding of the
Sabbath, and what it means, fit in here?
3.
We understand that we are forgiven our sins only through
God's grace. How do we understand the role of God's grace
in enabling us to live a life of faith and obedience?
SUMMARY:
The covenant God formed with Israel at Sinai was a
covenant of grace. Having given abundant evidence of His gracious
love and care by an extraordinary deliverance from Egyptian slavery,
God invited the nation into a covenant with Him that would maintain
and promote their freedoms. Although Israel responded in the affirma-
tive, they lacked a true faith motivated by love. Their later history
indicates that, for the most part, they failed to understand the true nature
of the covenant and corrupted it into a salvation-by-works system. We
need not follow Israel's failure and ignore the marvelous grace that has
been extended to sinners.
62
Mk.
The Answer That Did Not Come
Pedro Santos Marinho
For years Eni had been a follower of Candomble, an Afro-Brazilian
religious sect that includes spirit worship and fortune telling. Eni was a
respected spirit medium and had many clients among the high society
of Rio de Janeiro. Her brother, Amandio, was an Adventist, and for
years he had tried to share his faith with Eni, but his efforts only
irritated her. Finally she told him to leave and refused to speak to him.
He left, but he did not stop praying for her.
Then came news that she had cancer. Shaken, Eni turned to her
idols and asked Oxala, her most powerful deity, to help her. But she
received no answer to her prayers. Desperate, she finally decided to
call her brother.
Amandio listened to her story and tried to comfort her with verses
from the Psalms. "Are you ready to know Jesus?" Amandio asked her.
"No!" she answered defiantly, and hung up.
Amandio continued praying, and hundreds of miles away in Rio de
Janeiro, the Holy Spirit continued working in Eni's life. One night she
dreamed that her mother spoke to her. "You must get out of this
religion or you will be lost forever," the voice said. Eni was afraid to
get rid of her idols, but she also feared disobeying her mother's voice.
News of Eni's illness spread, and Christians began visiting her.
Someone suggested that they destroy the idols in her home.
"No," Eni said. "I placed them here, and I will remove them."
Eni's cancerous cyst continued to grow. One morning Eni knelt
down and poured out her heart to God. "Jesus, I am tired of stepping
on Your Word. Change my life." Suddenly a bright light surrounded
her. A hand touched her, and Eni knew she was healed. In a moment
the light disappeared, and Eni fell asleep.
The next day Eni went to her doctor for a biopsy. The doctor was
surprised to find the test showed no cancer. Eni hurried home and called
her brother. "Would your church accept me the way I am?" Eni asked.
"Of course the church will accept you!" Amandio answered. "There
is a church near your home. Ask the pastor for Bible studies." Eni soon
began Bible studies, and the next time she called her brother, she told
him she planned to be baptized.
At her baptism, Eni testified of the influence of her brother's
testimony and his constant prayers. Two years after her own
baptism, her husband, Sebastiao, was baptized, as well. They
enjoy serving God together, especially helping others in need.
Pedro Santos Marinho is a retired pastor Hs ing in
Bahia State, Brazil.
Produced by the Office of Mission
Sabbath School-Personal Ministries department of the General Conference
Email: gomission@gc.adventist.org
63
Lesson 8
*February15-21
Covenant Law
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alinft
iiiii,
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illift
ioim,
Sabbath Afternoon
MEMORY TEXT: "Know therefore that the Lord your God is God;
he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand
generations of those who love him and keep his commands"
(Deuteronomy 7:9, NIV).
O
NE OF THE IMPORTANT PHRASES
in Psalm 23 indcates
where
God desires to lead us. "He leadeth me
in the paths of
righteousness
for his name's sake," David declares in verse 3
(emphasis supplied). Because of His own moral uprightness, God will
never lead us astray. He will provide safe paths for our spiritual walk
through life.
What are the safe "paths of righteousness"? A writer of another
psalm answers this question through a prayer request: "Make me to go
in the path of thy commandments;
for therein do I delight" (Ps. 119:35,
emphasis supplied). "All thy commandments are righteousness"
(vs. 172). God's law is a safe, firm path through the treacherous
swamp of human existence.
Our lesson this week centers on God's law and its place in the Sinai
covenant.
THE WEEK AT A GLANCE: What did Israel's election mean? How
does Israel's election parallel our own? How important was the law in
the covenant? Does the covenant come unconditionally? Why is obedi-
ence such an integral part of the covenant relationship?
*Please study this week's lesson to prepare for Sabbath, February 22.
64
Sunday
February 16
THE ELECTION OF ISRAEL (Deut. 7:7).
J
ewish tradition has taught that God made the covenant with Israel
only because other nations rejected it first. Though there is no
biblical evidence for that position, it does, however, help bring
home the point that for whatever reasons the Lord chose the Hebrew
nation, it was not because they were deserving of the high honor and
privilege the Lord bestowed upon them. They had no merit of their own
that would make them worthy of God's love and His choice of them as
His people. They were few in number, a group of enslaved tribes, and
politically and militarily weak. Plus, in terms of culture and religion,
they were mixed, bland, and without much influence. The basic cause,
then, for Israel's election lay in the mystery of God's love and grace.
At the same time, however, we need to be careful as we look at this
idea of election, because it is fraught with the potential for theological
misunderstanding. What did God choose Israel for? Was it to be
redeemed, while everyone else was chosen to be rejected and lost? Or
were they chosen to be vehicles who would offer the world what they had
been offered? How do the following verses help us understand the
answers to these questions?
Exod. 19:6
Isa. 56:7
Heb. 2:9
As Seventh-day Adventists, we like to view ourselves as the
modern-day counterpart of Israel, called by the Lord, not to be the
only ones redeemed but to proclaim the message of redemption, in
the context of the three angels' messages, to the world. In short, we
believe we have something to say that no one else is saying. This is,
basically, the situation with ancient Israel, as well. The purpose of
Israel's election was not to turn the Hebrew nation into some exclu-
sive club, hoarding the promise of salvation and redemption for
themselves. On the contrary. If we believe that Christ died for all
humanity (Heb. 2:9), then the redemption the Lord offered Israel
was offered to the whole world, as well. Israel was supposed to be
the vehicle by which this redemption was to be made known. Our
church has been called to do the same thing.
Look at your own role in the church. What can you do to help
promote better the work that we have been called to do? Re-
member, if you are not actively helping, more than likely you
are, to some degree, standing in the
way.
65
Monday
February 17
TIES THAT BIND.
"And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to
perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables
of stone" (Dent. 4:13).
H
owever much we have been stressing that the covenant is
always a covenant of grace, that it is only the result of God's
bestowing unmerited favor upon those who enter into a saving
relationship with Him, grace is not a license to disobey. On the contrary.
Covenant and law belong together; they are, in fact, inseparable.
Look at the text quoted above. How tightly does it link the covenant
and the law? How does it show how basic the law is to the covenant?
When you think about what a covenant is, the concept of law as an
integral part makes sense. If we understand the covenant as among
other things, a relationship, then some sort of rules and boundaries
need to be drawn. How long would a marriage or a friendship or a
business partnership last if there were no boundaries or rules, either
specifically expressed or tacitly understood? The husband decides to
take a girlfriend or the friend decides to help himself to the other's
wallet or one business partner without telling the other invites another
person to join their venture. These acts would be a violation of rules,
laws, and principles. How long would these relationships last under
such lawless circumstances? That is why there have to be boundaries,
lines drawn, and rules established. Only through these can the rela-
tionship be maintained.
In fact, various expressions such as
law
(Ps. 78:10),
statutes
(Ps.
50:16),
testimonies
(Ps. 25:10),
commandments
(Ps. 103:18), and
word
of
the Lord (Deut. 33:9) are found parallel to or in closest association with
(if not having almost the same meaning as) the word
covenant.
Evi-
dently "the words of this covenant" (Jer. 11:3, 6, 8) are the words of
God's law, statutes, testimonies, and commandments.
The covenant of God with His people Israel contained various re-
quirements that would be crucial for maintaining the special relation-
ship He sought with His people. Is it any different today?
Think of someone you have a close relationship with. Now, imag-
ine what would happen to that relationship if you didn't feel bound by
any rules, norms, or laws but believed you had total freedom to do
whatever you wanted. Even if you say that you love this person
and that love alone will decide how you relate to him or her, why
is there still a need for rules? Discuss.
66
Tuesday
February 18
1.:1W WITHIN THE COVENANT (Deut. 10:12, 13).
W
hat are your first thoughts when you think of law? Police
officers, traffic tickets, judges, and jail? Or do you think of
restrictions, rules, authoritarian parents, and punishment?
Or, perhaps, do you think of order, harmony, stability? Or maybe
even . . . love?
The Hebrew word
torah,
translated "law" in our Bibles, means
"teaching" or "instruction." The term can be used to refer to all God's
instructions, whether moral, civil, social, or religious. It implies all the
wise counsels God has graciously given His people, so they may experi-
ence an abundant life both physically and spiritually. No wonder the
psalmist could call the man blessed whose "delight is in the law of the
Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night" (Ps. 1:2).
As we read the
law
or
torah—the
instructions and teachings re-
corded in the books of Moses that became a part of Israel's covenant—
we are impressed with the wide range of instruction. The law touches
upon every part of Israel's lifestyle—agriculture, civil government,
social relationships, and worship.
Why do you suppose God provided so much instruction for Israel?
See Deuteronomy 10:13. In what ways were these instructions for
their "good"?
The work of the "law" within the covenant was to provide guidelines
to the new life of the human-covenant partner. The law introduces the
member of the covenant to the will of God, whom one comes to know
in the fullest sense through obedience by faith to His commandments
and other expressions of His will.
The part played by the law within the living reality of the covenant
relationship showed that Israel could not follow the ways of other
nations. They could not live by natural law, human needs, desires, or
even social, political, and economic necessities alone. They could
continue as God's holy nation, priestly kingdom, and special treasure
only through uncompromising obedience to the revealed will of the
covenant-making God in all areas of life.
Like ancient Israel, Seventh-day Adventists have received a wide
range of counsels pertaining to every phase of Christian living
through a modern manifestation of the prophetic gift. Why should we
view these counsels as a gift from God rather than a detriment to
independent thought and action? At the same time, what dangers do
we face of turning that gift into something legalistic, as the Israel-
ites did with their covenant gifts? (See Rom. 9:32.)
67
Wednesday
February 19
THE STABILITY OF GOD'S LAW.
What truth about God does the presence of God's law in the covenant
relationship teach us about His essential nature? Mal. 3:6; James
1:17.
G
od's
law is
an oral or written expression of His
will
(compare
Ps. 40:8). Because it is a transcript of His character, its presence
in the covenant assures us of the permanence and dependabil-
ity of God. Although we always may not be able to discern the
outworkings of His providence, we know He is trustworthy. His uni-
verse is under unvarying moral and physical laws. It is this fact that
gives us true freedom and security.
The "assurance that God is reliable and dependable lies in the truth
that He is a God of law. His will and His law are one. God says that
right is right because it describes the best possible relationships. Therefore
God's law is never arbitrary or subject to whim and fancy. It is the most
stable thing in the universe."—Walter R. Beach,
Dimensions in Salva-
tion
(Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association,
1963), p. 143.
If God's law cannot save a person from sin, why did He make it a part
of the covenant? Hint: See Amos 3:3.
A relationship requires agreement and harmony. Because God is not
only the Creator of the world but also its moral Governor, law is essen-
tial for the happiness of His created, intelligent beings to live in har-
mony with Him. His law, the expression of His will, is thus the constitu-
tion of His government. It is naturally the norm or obligation of the
covenant arrangement and relationship. Its purpose is not to save but
to define our duty to God (commandments 1-4) and our duty to our
fellow humans (commandments 5-10). In other words, it sets forth the
manner of life that God designs for His covenant children to live, for
their own happiness and well-being. It prevented Israel from substitut-
ing some other philosophy as a way of life. It was and is the purpose of
the covenant relationship to bring the believer through God's trans-
forming grace into harmony with His will and character.
Look around. Can you not see the devastating effects of lawless-
ness? Even in your own life, can you not see some damage done by
breaking God's law? In what ways do these realities help affirm the
goodness of God's law and why law should be a crucial part of our
relationship with Him?
68
Thursday
February 20
IF . . .
Look up the following verses. What is the one point they have in
common, and what does it teach about the nature of the covenant?
Gen. 18:19
Gen. 26:4, 5
Exod. 19:5
Lev. 26:3
G
od openly acknowledges Abraham's faithful obedience to "my
commandments, my statutes, and my laws" (Gen. 26:5). It is
implied that God expected such a lifestyle from His human
partner in the covenant. The full statement of the biblical covenant at
Sinai makes it abundantly evident that conditions of obedience are one
of the basic aspects of the covenant.
Exodus 19:5 made it clear, "if ye will obey...." The conditional aspect
of the covenant is undeniable; though bestowed by grace, though
unearned, though a gift to them, the covenant promises were not
unconditional. The people could reject the gift, deny the grace, and turn
away from the promises. The covenant, as with salvation, never ne-
gates free will. The Lord does not force people into a saving relation-
ship with Him; He doesn't impose a covenant upon them. He freely
offers it to everyone; everyone is invited to accept it. When he or she
does, obligations follow, not as a means of earning the covenant bless-
ing but as an outward manifestation of having received the covenant
blessings. Israel should obey, not in order to earn the promises but that
the promises could be fulfilled in her. Her obedience was an expression
of what it is like to be blessed by the Lord. Obedience does not earn the
blessings, in that God is obligated to bring them; obedience, instead,
creates an environment where the blessing of faith can be made mani-
fest.
"Ye
shall walk in all the
ways
which the Lord your God hath
commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and
that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess"
(Deut. 5:33). Is the Lord saying to Israel that if they obey they will
earn these blessings, that these blessings are what the people are
owed? Or is He saying: If you obey, these blessings can result
because obedience opens the way for Me to be able to bring the
blessings upon you? What is the difference between the two
ideas?
69
Friday
February 21
FURTHER STUDY:
To learn more about this week's topic, read
Ellen G. White,
The Desire of Ages,
pp. 607, 608, and
Patriarchs and
Prophets,
"The Law and the Covenants," pp. 363-373.
H
ow does Matthew 22:34-40 help us better understand (1) the
place and meaning of God's law within His covenant and (2) the
concept that covenant is synonymous with relationship?
"There must first be love in the heart before a person can, in the
strength and by the grace of Christ, begin to observe the precepts of
God's law (cf. Rom. 8:3, 4). Obedience without love is as impossible as
it is worthless. But where love is present a person will automatically set
out to order his life in harmony with the will of God as expressed in His
commandments."—The
SDA Bible Commentary, vol.
5, p. 484: "Love
the Lord."
"In the precepts of His holy law, God has given a perfect rule of
life; and He has declared that until the close of time this law, un-
changed in a single jot or tittle, is to maintain its claim upon human
beings. Christ came to magnify the law and make it honorable. He
showed that it is based upon the broad foundation of love to God and
love to man, and that obedience to its precepts comprises the whole
duty of man. In His own life He gave an example of obedience to the
law of God. In the Sermon on the Mount He showed how its require-
ments extend beyond the outward acts and take cognizance of the
thoughts and intents of the heart."—Ellen G. White,
The Acts of the
Apostles,
p. 505.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
I. Why does the thread of love exert a stronger pull than the rope
of fear to draw human beings to God?
2.
Why is the command to " ' "love the Lord your God with all
your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind"' "
(Matt. 22:37, NIV) the first and greatest commandment?
3.
Simone Weil once wrote that " 'Order is the first need of
all.' " (Quoted in Russell Kirk,
The Roots of American Order
[Washington, D.C.: Regnery Gateway, 1992], p. 3.) How do
you understand her words in the context of the week's
lesson, particularly in relation to the idea of law?
SUMMARY:
God's law was an integral part of the covenant. Yet, it was
a true covenant of grace. Grace, however, never nullifies the need for
law. On the contrary, law is a means by which grace is manifested and
expressed in the lives of those who receive grace.
70
Alk
New Life in Jesus
J. H. Zachary
Pun grew up in a village in Myanmar (Burma) where villagers
followed the traditional beliefs of their ancestors. The villagers
worshiped the gods of the forest, the storm, the rocks, and the
mountains. They lived in fear of curses that might be cast upon
them by their enemies.
While still a young boy, Pun began attending a Branch Sabbath
School. He earned small gifts for memorizing Bible verses. Al-
though he did not understand what the verses meant, he was
storing God's Word in his mind.
Pun saw that the Christians enjoyed a peace and lack of fear of
the spirits that the other villagers did not have. Pun came to feel
more and more at home with the Christians. He enjoyed the songs
he learned. When the pastor asked Pun if he would like to know
more about the Bible, Pun joined the baptismal class.
Other villagers shunned him, and even his parents were un-
happy with his interest in Christianity. But over the years, Pun's
family saw the changes in his life, and, eventually, the rest of the
family became Adventist Christians.
When Pun completed high school, he wanted to continue his
education. But his father had no way to earn the tuition. They lived
on what Father could find in the jungle.
Pun traveled to Malaysia to live and work with his brother.
Although they worked hard, they made barely enough to care for
themselves. For four years Pun fasted and prayed that God would
help him go to college. Then one Sabbath a foreigner visited Pun's
church. He and Pun became good friends over the next few weeks,
and before the visitor left for home, he asked Pun, "How would
you like to go to Mountain View College, in the Philippines?"
"Sir," Pun replied, "I have been fasting and praying for four
years to go to college."
"Perhaps this is the answer to your prayer, Pun," his friend
replied. He offered to pay Pun's tuition.
Eagerly Pun traveled to Mountain View College and enrolled in
the theology course. "I want to spend my life telling others of the
great power in Jesus Christ to help them."
J.
H. Zachary is coordinator of international evangelism for The
Quiet Hour.
Produced
by the Office of Mission
Sabbath School-Personal Ministries department of the General Conference
Email: gomission@gc.adventist.org
71
Lesson 9
*February 22-28
The Covenant Sign
Sabbath Afternoon
MEMORY VERSE: "Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep
the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations,
for a perpetual covenant" (Exodus 31:16).
T
HE SEVENTH-DAY SABBATH
is like a hammered nail that—
Thwack!—with
unbroken regularity returns us each week to the
foundation of all that we are or could be. We are so busy
running to and fro, spending money, making money, going here, going
there, going everywhere, and then—Thwack!—Sabbath comes and
reattaches us to our foundation, the starting point of everything that
follows, because everything that is anything to us becomes that only
because God created it and us to begin with.
With unceasing regularity, and with no exceptions, the Sabbath
silently hurls over the horizon and into every crack and cranny of our
lives. It reminds us that every crack and cranny belong to our Maker,
the One who put us here, the One who "in the beginning" created the
heavens and the earth, an act that remains the irrefutable foundation of
all Christian belief and of which the seventh-day Sabbath—Thwack!—
is the irrefutable, unobtrusive, and unyielding sign.
This week we look at this sign in the context of the Sinai covenant.
THE WEEK AT A GLANCE: Where does the Sabbath have its
origins? What evidence proves that the Sabbath existed before Sinai?
What makes the Sabbath such an appropriate covenant sign?
*Please study this week's lesson to prepare for Sabbath, March 1.
72
Sunday
February 23
ORIGINS.
H
ow often we hear the phrase the "old Jewish Sabbath." Yet
Scripture is clear that the Sabbath existed long before there
were any Jewish people. Its origin is found in the Creation
week itself.
Look up these texts regarding the Sabbath. Where do they clearly,
and unambiguously, place the origin of the Sabbath? Gen. 2:2, 3;
Exod. 20:11.
Although Genesis 2:2, 3 does not identify the "seventh day" as the
Sabbath (this identification comes first in Exod. 16:26, 29), it is clearly
suggested in the phrase "he rested on the seventh day" (Gen. 2:2). The
word
rested
(Hebrew,
shabat)
is related to the noun
Sabbath
(Hebrew,
shabbat).
"The word `sabbath' is not employed [in Gen. 2:2, 3], but it is
certain that the author meant to assert that God blessed and hallowed the
seventh day as the sabbath."—G. F. Waterman,
The Zondervan Pictorial
Encyclopedia of the Bible
(Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Publishing
House, 1975), vol. 5, p. 183. Evidently, Genesis 2:2, 3 teaches the divine
origin and institution of the Sabbath as a day of blessing for all humanity.
Read Mark 12:27. Jesus says that Sabbath was made for, literally,
"man," implying humanity as a whole, as opposed to the Jews alone.
Why would God Himself rest on the seventh day? Did He need
it? What other purpose might His resting have served?
Although some commentators have suggested that God needed physical
rest after Creation, the true purpose for God's resting was to provide a
divine Example for humanity. Humankind also is to work for six days and
then to rest on the seventh-day Sabbath. Theologian Karl Barth suggested
that God's resting at the end of Creation was a part of the "covenant of
grace," in which humankind was invited "to rest with Him . . . to parti-
cipate in God's
rest."—Church Dogmatics,
vol. 3, part 1, p. 98, quoted in
Adult Sabbath School Lessons (October—December 1982), p. 63.
God in His love called the man and the woman on the day after
their creation to fellowship in rest, to establish intimate communion
with Him, in whose image they had been made. That fellowship and
communion was to last forever. Since the fall of humankind, it has
offered a weekly high point of one's life with the Savior.
If someone were to ask you, How has keeping the Sabbath bene-
fited your relationship with the Lord, how would you respond?
73
Monday
February 24
SABBATH BEFORE SINAI.
"And he said unto them, This is that which the Lord hath said,
To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the Lord: bake that
which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that
which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning"
(Exod. 16:23).
Skim through Exodus 16, the story of the manna provided to Israel
in the desert, before Sinai. Notice what this account reveals:
1.
Only a regular portion of manna could be used each day, but on
the sixth day a double portion was to be gathered.
2.
No manna was given on the Sabbath.
3.
The extra portion needed for the Sabbath was preserved from
the sixth day unspoiled, while the manna would not keep on any
other day.
What does this story reveal about the sanctity of the Sabbath
before the giving of the law at Sinai? See Exodus 19:1.
"In fact, the equation of the Sabbath with the seventh day, the
statement that the Lord gave the Israelites the Sabbath, and the
record that the people, at God's command, rested on the seventh day,
all point unmistakably to the primeval [at Creation] institution of the
Sabbath."—G. F. Waterman,
Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of
the Bible, vol.
5, p. 184.
There is a lot more than first meets the eye in Exodus 16
about the Sabbath. Look what it teaches us:
1.
Which day is the preparation day for the Sabbath?
2.
Which day of the week is the Sabbath?
3.
Where did the Sabbath come from?
4.
What kind of day should the Sabbath be?
5.
Is the Sabbath a day of fasting?
6.
Is the Sabbath a test of loyalty to God?
How does your understanding of the Sabbath today match
with what is taught about the Sabbath in Exodus 16?
74
Tuesday
February 25
COVENANT SIGN.
" ' "The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for
the generations to come as a lasting covenant. It will be a sign
between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the Lord
made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he ab-
stained from work and rested" ' " (Exod. 31:16, 17, NW).
F
our times in Scripture the Sabbath is designated as a "sign"
(Exod. 31:13, 17; Ezek. 20:12, 20). A "sign" is not a "symbol"
in the sense of a thing that naturally typifies, represents, or
recalls something else, because both share similar qualities (for ex-
ample, a symbol of a fist often denotes "might" or "power"). In the
Bible, the Sabbath as a "sign" functioned as an outward mark or object
or condition intended to convey a distinctive message. Nothing in the
sign
itself
particularly linked it to the covenant. The Sabbath was a
covenant sign " ' "between me and you throughout your generations" ' "
(Exod. 31:13, RSV) only because God said it was.
Why would the Lord use the Sabbath as a covenant sign? What
is it about the Sabbath that would make it so appropriate a symbol
of the saving relationship with God? Remembering that a crucial
aspect of the covenant is that we are saved by grace, that works
cannot save us, what is it about the Sabbath itself that makes it such
a good symbol of that relationship?
(See
Gen.
2:3; Heb. 4:1-4.)
What is fascinating about the Sabbath as a sign of the covenant of
grace is that for centuries the Jews have understood the Sabbath to be
the sign of Messianic redemption. They saw in the Sabbath a foretaste
of salvation in the Messiah. Because we understand redemption as
coming only from grace, and because we understand the covenant to
be a covenant of grace, the link between the Sabbath, Redemption,
and the covenant is made clear (see Deut. 5:12-15). Thus, contrary to
common opinion, the Sabbath is a sign of God's saving grace; it's not
a sign of salvation by works.
How do you understand what it means to "rest" on the Sabbath?
How do you rest on the Sabbath? What do you do differently on
that day that makes it a "sign"? Could someone who knows you
look at your life and
see
that the Sabbath really is a special day
for you?
75
Wednesday
February 26
SIGN OF SANCTIFICATION.
" ' "You shall keep my sabbaths, for this is a sign between me
and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I,
the Lord, sanctify you" ' " (Exod. 31:13, RSV).
A
n exceptionally rich Sabbath passage is Exodus 31:12-17,
which follows the Lord's directions for the building of the
sanctuary and the establishment of its services (Exod. 25:1
to 31:11).
The concept of the Sabbath as a "sign"—a visible, external, and
eternal
sign between God and His people—is expressed here in this
manner for the first time. The text itself contains some fascinating con-
cepts worthy of our study. Two new ideas are joined together in this text:
1.
The Sabbath as a
sign of knowledge
2.
The Sabbath as a
sign of sanctification
Consider the sign aspect related to knowledge. The Hebrew under-
standing of knowledge includes intellectual, relational, and emotional
aspects. "To know" did not simply mean to know a fact, particularly
when a person was involved. It also meant to have a meaningful
relationship with the one known. Thus
to know the Lord meant
to be in
the right relationship with Him—to "serve" Him (1 Chron. 28:9), to
"fear" Him (Isa. 11:2), to "believe" Him (Isa. 43:10), to "trust" Him
and "seek" Him (Ps. 9:10), and to "call upon" His name (Jer. 10:25;
see, also, same verse as mentioned).
Look up each of the texts in the above paragraph. In what ways do
these texts help us understand what it means to "know" the Lord?
In addition, the Sabbath has significance as a sign of sanctification.
It signifies that the Lord "sanctifies" His people (compare Lev. 20:8)
by making them "holy" (Deut. 7:6).
The sanctification process is as much the work of God's redemptive
love as is the saving and redeeming work of God. Righteousness (justifi-
cation) and sanctification are both activities of God: " 'I . . . the Lord . . .
sanctify you' " (Lev. 20:8, RSV). Thus, the Sabbath is a sign that imparts
the knowledge of God as Sanctifier. "The Sabbath given to the world as
the sign of God as the Creator is also the sign of Him as the Sanctifier."
—Ellen G. White,
Testimonies for the Church,
vol. 6, p. 350.
Consider the Sabbath day and the process of sanctification,
that of
being made holy.
What role does Sabbath keeping have in
this process? How can the Lord use our experience of keeping
the Sabbath to help sanctify us?
76
Thursday
February 27
REMEMBERING THE SABBATH.
"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy" (Exod. 20:8).
T
he Sabbath was and is a sign for humanity to "remember." The
use of the word
remember
can serve various functions. First,
to
remember
something implies looking backward, looking to the
past. In this case, the Sabbath points us to the fiat Creation, which
climaxed in the institution of the Sabbath as a weekly day of rest and
special communion with God.
The injunction to remember has implications also for the present.
We are not only to "remember" the Sabbath (Exod. 20:8); we are to
"observe" and "keep" it (see Deut. 5:12, RSV). Thus, the Sabbath has
important implications for us now, in the present.
Finally, remembering the Sabbath also points us forward. The
person who remembers the keeping of the Sabbath has a promising,
rich, and meaningful future with the Lord of the Sabbath. He or she
remains in the covenant relationship, because he or she remains in the
Lord. Again, when we understand the covenant to be a relationship
between God and humankind, the Sabbath, which can greatly help
strengthen that relationship, comes into specific prominence.
Indeed, in remembering Creation and its Creator, God's people
also remember God's gracious acts of salvation (see Deut. 5:14, where
the Sabbath is seen, in this context, as a sign of deliverance from
Egypt, a symbol of the ultimate salvation found in God). Creation and
re-creation belong together. The former makes the latter possible. The
Sabbath is a sign that communicates that God is the Creator of the
world and the Creator of our salvation.
"By keeping His Sabbath holy we are to show that we are His
people. His Word declares the Sabbath to be a sign by which to
distinguish the commandment-keeping people. . . . Those who
keep the law of God will be one with Him in the great contro-
versy commenced in heaven between Satan and God."—Ellen
G. White,
Selected Messages,
book 2, p. 160.
Look at this statement from the Lord's servant. What is it
about the Sabbath that makes it something that can distinguish
us as "the commandment-keeping people" more so than, per-
haps, any of the other commandments?
77
Friday
February 28
FURTHER STUDY:
Read also Ellen G. White Comments,
The SDA
Bible Commentary, vol. 7,
pp. 968-970; Ellen G. White,
Testimonies
for the Church,
vol. 6. pp. 349-351; Ellen G. White,
Patriarchs and
Prophets,
pp. 295-297.
T
he Ten Commandments define comprehensively and fundamen-
tally the Divine-human and human-human relationships. The
commandment at the center of the Decalogue is the Sabbath
commandment. It identifies the Lord of the Sabbath in a special way and
indicates His sphere of authority and ownership. Note these two as-
pects: (1) the identity of the Deity: Yahweh (Lord), who is the Creator
(Exod. 20:11; 31:17), and who thus holds a unique place; (2) the sphere
of His ownership and authority—" 'the heavens and the earth, the sea
and all that is in them' " (Exod. 20:11, NASB; compare 31:17). In these
two aspects, the Sabbath commandment has the characteristics that are
typical of seals of international, ancient Near Eastern—treaty documents.
These seals are typically in the center of the treaty documents and also
contain (1) the identity of deity (usually a pagan god) and (2) the sphere
of ownership and authority (usually a limited geographical area).
"The sanctification of the Spirit signalizes the difference between
those who have the seal of God and those who keep a spurious rest day.
"When the test comes, it will be clearly shown what the mark of the
beast is. It is the keeping of Sunday. . . .
"God has designated the seventh day as His Sabbath [Ex. 31:13,17,
16 quoted].
"Thus the distinction is drawn between the loyal and the disloyal.
Those who desire to have the seal of God in their foreheads must keep
the Sabbath of the fourth commandment."—Ellen G. White Com-
ments,
The SDA Bible Commentary, vol.
7, pp. 980,981.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1.
Read Leviticus 19:30. Notice how it links the sanctuary and
the Sabbath. Considering what we have learned so far about
what the Sabbath is a sign of, why does this linkage make so
much sense?
2.
Ask yourself this question: Has Sabbath keeping helped
strengthen my walk with the Lord? If not, what changes
can you make?
SUMMARY:
The Sabbath is a covenant sign that reaches forward to
the time when the plan of salvation will be consummated. It points
back to Creation and, as a sign of the covenant of grace, it points us to
the final re-creation, when God makes all things new.
78
7411111k
Children's Bible Hour Reaps Harvest
Charlotte Ishkanian
Mere Narabe taught in an Adventist school in Fiji. One Sabbath
she visited a neighboring village where no Adventists live. She
invited the children to come sing songs about Jesus and listen to
stories. Thus, a children's Bible hour was born in that village. The
little group of children grew so large that the headmaster's house,
where they met, could no longer hold them all. So he arranged to
let Mere meet with the children in a room under the village's only
church.
One little girl, Susi, often attended the children's Bible hour.
When her grandmother learned she was attending the meetings,
she told Susi not to go anymore. But Susi was determined not to
miss the children's meeting, so she would sneak away from her
work and stand outside the meeting room and listen through the
windows.
Mere knew that Susi's grandmother forbade her to attend the
meetings, but she did not know that Susi was hiding outside and
listening. Apparently, Susi did this for several months.
Eventually, Mere's heavy commitments in her own village forced
her to stop holding the Bible-hour meetings. She often wondered
whether the children's meetings had made any difference in the
lives of those who attended.
Then, many years later, Mere returned to the village, which
now has an Adventist church. During testimony time, one young
woman stood and told how she had first learned about the Adventist
truth. She said, "When I was a little girl, a woman came to our
village to hold story hour for children. I could not come in, be-
cause my grandmother prohibited me, but I stood outside and
listened. I remembered what this woman had taught us, and when
Adventists came to hold meetings in our village, I knew they were
sharing the truth. I attended and joined the church. My husband
and children are all Adventists today."
The woman was Susi. After the worship hour, Susi found Mere
and told her that most of the other children from that children's
Bible hour had become Adventists, as well.
Mere's heart sang as she realized that her little children's story
hour, which ran for only three months, had planted so many seeds
that grew to a beautiful harvest for God.
Charlotte Ishkanian is editor of
Mission.
Produced by the Office of Mission
Sabbath School-Personal Ministries department of the General Conference
Email: gomission@gc.adventist.org
7 cJ
Nig Ili till
Lesson 10
*March 1-7
The New Covenant
Sabbath Afternoon
MEMORY VERSE: " 'Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord,
when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the
house of Judah' " (Jeremiah 31:31, RSV).
A
CARTOON
in a magazine years ago showed a business execu-
tive in an office standing before a group of other executives. He
was holding a box of detergent in his hands, showing it to the
other men and women. He proudly pointed to the word
New
that was
displayed in large red letters on the box, the implication being, of
course, that the product was new. The executive then said, "It's the
`New' on the box that is new." In other words, all that changed, all that
was new, was simply the word
New
on the box. Everything else was
the same.
In a sense, one could say that the new covenant is like that. The
basis of the covenant, the basic hope that it has for us, the basic
conditions of it, are the same as what was found in the old covenant. It
has always been a covenant of God's grace and mercy, a covenant
based on a love that transcends human foibles and defeats.
THE WEEK AT A GLANCE: What parallels exist between the old and
new covenants? What role does the law play in the covenant? With
whom were the covenants made? What does the book of Hebrews mean
by a "better covenant"? (Heb. 8:6). What relation is there between the
covenant and the heavenly sanctuary?
*Please study this week's lesson to prepare for Sabbath, March 8.
80
Sunday
March 2
BEHOLD, THE DAYS ARE COMING . . .
Read Jeremiah 31:31-34 and answer the following questions:
1.
Who instigates the covenant?
2. Whose law is being talked about here? What law is this?
3.
Which verses stress the relational aspect that God wants
with His people?
4.
What act of God on behalf of His people forms the basis of
that covenant relationship?
/
t is clear: The
new covenant
is not something much different from
the
old covenant
made with Israel on Mount Sinai. In fact, the
problem with the Sinai covenant was not that it was old or out-
moded. The problem, instead, was that it was broken (see vs. 32).
The answers to the above questions, all found in those four verses,
prove that many facets of the "old covenant" remain in the new one.
The "new covenant" is, in a sense, a "renewed covenant." It is the
completion, or the fulfillment, of the first one.
Focus on the last part of Jeremiah 31:34, in which the Lord
says
that He will forgive the iniquity and the sin of His people.
Even though the Lord says that He will write the law on our hearts
and place it within us, He still stresses that He will forgive our sin
and iniquity, which violates the law written in our hearts. Do you
see any contradiction or tension between these ideas? If not, why
not? What does it mean, as Romans 2:15 put it, to have the law
written within our hearts? (Matt. 5:17-28).
Looking at the verses for today, how could you use them to
answer the argument that somehow the Ten Commandments
(or, specifically, the Sabbath) is now made void under the new
covenant? Is there anything at all in those texts that makes that
point? If anything, how could one use those texts to prove the
perpetuity of the law?
81
Monday
March 3
HEART WORK.
t the time when the southern kingdom of Judah was about to
end and the people taken into Babylonian captivity, God an-
ounced through His prophet Jeremiah the "new covenant."
This is the first time this notion is expressed in the Bible. However,
when the ten-tribe northern kingdom of Israel was about to be de-
stroyed (some one hundred fifty years before the time of Jeremiah),
the
idea
of another covenant was mentioned again, this time by Hosea
(Hos. 2:18-20).
Read Hosea 2:18-20. Notice the parallel between what the Lord says
there to His people with what He said in Jeremiah 31:31-34. What
common imagery is used, and, again, what does it
say
about the basic
meaning and nature of the covenant?
At moments in history when God's plans for His covenant people
were hampered by their rebellion and unbelief, He sent prophets to
proclaim that the covenant history with His faithful had not come to an
end. No matter how unfaithful the people might have been, no matter
the apostasy, rebellion, and disobedience among them, the Lord still
proclaims His willingness to enter into a covenant relationship with all
who are willing to repent, to obey, and to claim His promises.
Look up the following texts. Though they do not specifically men-
tion a new covenant, what elements are found in them that reflect the
principles behind the new covenant?
Ezek. 11:19
Ezek. 18:31
Ezek. 36:26
The Lord will provide " 'a heart to know that I am the Lord' " (Jer.
24:7, RSV). He will " 'take the stony heart out of their flesh and give
them a heart of flesh' " (Ezek. 11:19, RSV), and will give " 'a new
heart" and "a new spirit' " (Ezek. 36:26, RSV). He also says, " 'I will
put My Spirit within you' " (vs. 27, NASB). This work of God is the
foundation of the new covenant.
If someone came to you and said, "I want a new heart, I want the law
written in my heart, I want a heart to know the Lord—but I don't
know how to get it," what would you say to this person?
82
Tuesday
March 4
OLD AND NEW COVENANTS.
" 'And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minis-
ter to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants,
every one who keeps the sabbath, and does not profane it, and holds
fast my covenant—these I will bring to my holy mountain, and
make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and
their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be
called a house of prayer for all peoples' " (Isa. 56:6, 7, RSV).
J
eremiah states that the new covenant is to be made with " 'the
house of Israel' " (vs. 33). Does this mean, then, that only the literal
seed of Abraham, Jews by blood and birth, are to receive the
covenant promises?
No! In fact, that was not even true in Old Testament times. That the
Hebrew nation, as a whole, had been given the covenant promises is,
of course, correct. Yet, it was not done in exclusion to anyone else. On
the contrary—all, Jew or Gentile, were invited to partake of the
promises, but they had to agree to enter into that covenant. It is
certainly no different today.
Read the above texts in Isaiah. What conditions do they place on
those who want to serve the Lord? Is there really any difference in what
God asked them and what He asks of us today? Explain your answer.
Though the new covenant is called "better" (see Wednesday's
lesson), there really is no difference in the basic elements that make up
both the old and new covenant. It is the same God, who offers salvation
the same way, by grace (Exod. 34:6; Rom. 3:24); it is the same God who
seeks a people who will by faith claim His promises of forgiveness (Jer.
31:34; Heb. 8:12); it is the same God who seeks to write the law into the
hearts of those who will follow Him in a faith relationship (Jer. 31:33;
Heb. 8:10), Jew or Gentile.
In the New Testament, the Jews, responding to the election of grace,
received Jesus Christ and His gospel. For a time they were the heart of
the church, the "remnant, chosen by grace" (Rom. 11:5, RSV) in con-
trast to those who were "hardened" (vs. 7, RSV). At the same time, the
Gentiles, who formerly did not believe, accepted the gospel and were
grafted into God's true people, made up of believers, no matter to which
people or race they belonged (vss. 13-24). So the Gentiles "at that time
separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and
strangers to the covenants of promise" (Eph. 2:12, RSV) were brought
near in the blood of Christ. Christ is mediating the "new covenant"
(Heb. 9:15, RSV) for
all
believers, regardless of nationality or race.
83
Wednesday
March 5
"A BETTER COVENANT" (Heb. 8:6).
Y
esterday we saw that, regarding the basic elements, the old and
new covenants were the same. The bottom line is salvation by
faith in a God who will forgive our sins, not because of anything
worthwhile in us but only because of His grace. As a result of this
forgiveness, we enter into a relationship with Him in which we surrender
to Him in faith and obedience.
Nevertheless, the book of Hebrews does call the new covenant "a
better covenant." How do we understand what that means? How is one
covenant better than the other?
Where did the fault lie with the "failure" of
the old covenant? Heb.
8:7, 8.
The problem with the old covenant was not the covenant itself but
with the failure of the people to grasp it in faith (Heb. 4:2). The
superiority of the new to the old lies in that Jesus—instead of being
revealed only through the animal sacrifices (as in the old covenant)—
now appears in the reality of His death and high-priestly ministry. In
other words, the salvation offered in the old covenant is the same
offered in the new. In the new, however, a greater, more complete
revelation of the God of the covenant and the love that He has for
fallen humanity has been revealed. It is better in that everything that
had been taught through symbols and types in the Old Testament has
found its fulfillment in Jesus, whose sinless life, His death, and High-
Priestly ministry were symbolized by the earthly sanctuary service
(Heb. 9:8-14).
Now, though, instead of symbols, types, and examples, we have
Jesus Himself, not only as the slain Lamb who shed His blood for our
sins (Heb. 9:12) but who stands as our High Priest in heaven minister-
ing on our behalf (Heb. 7:25). Though the salvation He offers is the
same, this fuller revelation of Himself and the salvation found in Him,
as revealed in the new covenant, make it superior to the old.
Read Hebrews 8:5 and 10:1. What word does the author use to
describe the old covenant sanctuary services? How does the use of
that word help us understand the superiority of the new covenant?
Think about this: Why would knowing about Christ's life, death,
and high-priestly ministry on our behalf give us a better under-
standing of God than one would get merely from the earthly
sanctuary-service ritual of animal sacrifices?
84
Thursday
March 6
THE NEW-COVENANT PRIEST.
T
he book of Hebrews places a heavy emphasis on Jesus as our
High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary. In fact, the clearest expo-
sition of the new covenant found in the New Testament appears
in the book of Hebrews with its emphasis on Christ as High Priest. This
is no coincidence. Christ's heavenly ministry is intricately tied to prom-
ises of the new covenant.
The Old Testament sanctuary service was the means by which the
old-covenant truths were taught. It centered around sacrifice and me-
diation. Animals were slain, and their blood was mediated by the
priests. These, of course, were all symbols of the salvation found only
in Jesus. There was no salvation found in them in and of themselves.
Read Hebrews 10:4. Why is there no salvation found in the death of
these animals? Why is the death of an animal not sufficient to bring
salvation?
All these sacrifices, and the priestly mediation that accompanied
them, met their fulfillment in Christ. Jesus became the Sacrifice upon
which the blood of the new covenant is based. Christ's blood ratified
the new covenant, making the Sinaitic covenant and its sacrifices "old"
or void. The true sacrifice had been made, once and for all (Heb. 9:26).
Once Christ died, there was no more need for any animals to be slain.
The earthly sanctuary services had fulfilled their function.
Read Matthew 27:51, which tells how the veil in the earthly sanctu-
ary was torn when Jesus died. How does that event help us understand
why the earthly sanctuary had been superceded?
Tied, of course, to these animal sacrifices was the priestly ministry,
those Levites who offered and mediated the sacrifices in the earthly
sanctuary on behalf of the people. Once the sacrifices ended, the need
for their ministry ended, as well. Everything had been fulfilled in Jesus,
who now ministers His own blood in the sanctuary in heaven (see Heb.
8:1-5). Hebrews stresses Christ as High Priest in heaven, having en-
tered by shedding His own blood (Heb. 9:12), mediating in our behalf.
This is the foundation of the hope and promise we have in the new
covenant.
How does it make you feel, understanding that, even now, Jesus is
ministering His blood in heaven on your behalf? How much confi-
dence and assurance does that give you regarding salvation?
85
Friday
March
7
FURTHER STUDY:
I
n partaking with His disciples of the bread and wine, Christ pledged
Himself to them as their Redeemer. He committed to them the new
covenant, by which all who receive Him become children of God,
and joint heirs with Christ. By this covenant every blessing that heaven
could bestow for this life and the life to come was theirs. This covenant
deed was to be ratified with the blood of Christ. And the administration
of the Sacrament was to keep before the disciples the infinite sacrifice
made for each of them individually as a part of the great whole of fallen
humanity."—Ellen G. White,
The Desire ofAges,
pp. 656, 659.
"The most striking feature of this covenant of peace is the exceed-
ing richness of the pardoning mercy expressed to the sinner if he
repents and turns from his sin. The Holy Spirit describes the gospel as
salvation through the tender mercies of our God. 'I will be merciful to
their unrighteousness,' the Lord declares of those who repent, 'and
their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more' (Heb. 8:12). Does
God turn from justice in showing mercy to the sinner? No; God cannot
dishonor His law by suffering it to be transgressed with impunity.
Under the new covenant, perfect obedience is the condition of life. If
the sinner repents and confesses his sins, he will find pardon. By
Christ's sacrifice in his behalf, forgiveness is secured for him. Christ
has satisfied the demands of the law for every repentant, believing
sinner."—Ellen G. White,
God's Amazing Grace,
p. 138.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1.
What is the advantage of having the law written in the heart as
opposed to only on tablets of stone? Which is easier to forget,
the law written on stones or the law written in the heart?
2.
Ever since the fall of humanity, salvation has been found only
through Jesus, even if the revelation of that truth varied in
different epochs of history. Do not the covenants work the same
way?
3.
Look at the second Ellen G. White quote above. What does she
mean by "perfect obedience" as the requirement for a covenant
relationship? Who is the only One who has rendered "per-
fect obedience"? How does that obedience answer the de-
mands of the law for us?
SUMMARY:
The new covenant is a greater, more complete, and better
revelation of the plan of Redemption. We who partake of it partake of it
by faith, a faith that will manifest itself in obedience to a law written in
our hearts.
86
Al\
The Rain Stayed Away
Rued Dave Soreno
Lagoyloy village is nestled in the thick mountain forests of
southern Philippines. The villagers had recently moved their vil-
lage to a new location, where they can get clear spring water.
Large logs lie scattered around the newly cleared land, and tempo-
rary homes with palm leaf roofs are slowly giving way to more
permanent structures. But the school teachers' home is not yet
finished. The floor boards are not nailed down, and when it rains,
the palm leaf roof leaks.
Every afternoon the children gather in our little home for wor-
ship. We sing songs, recite memory verses, and worship God
together. One of their favorite memory verses is Jeremiah 33:3,
"Call upon Me and
I
will answer thee and show thee great and
mighty things which thou knowest not."
One afternoon the children gathered for worship as usual. Soon the
air filled with singing. We noticed dark clouds gathering on the
horizon. "Children," I said, "the rain is coming, and our roof is not yet
waterproof. We should dismiss, so you will not get wet when it rains."
"No sir," some of the children responded, "God will keep us
dry! Let's just pray."
"Let's continue, sir!" the rest of the children chorused.
The sky grew darker; lightning flashed, and thunder roared as
the children folded their hands to pray. "Lord," I said, "please hold
the rain until we finish our worship, so that we will not get wet. In
Jesus' name, Amen."
As worship progressed, I prayed again. "Lord, please honor the
simple faith of these children, so that they may know that You are
the true and living God."
We sang one more song as the first big drops of rain fell on the
roof. As the speaker stood to talk,
I
could hear the sound of a
heavy downpour in the distance. All around us it rained, but no
more raindrops touched our house. God held back the rain.
"You see, sir," the children told me after worship. "God an-
swered our prayers!" And He did. Our earnest prayer for these
people is that they will accept Jesus as the author of their salvation
as well as the One who held back the rain.
Rued Dave Soreno is a student missionary from Mountain
View
College, in southern Philippines. He is teaching at
the Lagoyloy
Mission School in a mountain village in southern Philippines.
Produced by the Office of Mission
Sabbath School-Personal Ministries department of the General Conference
Email: gomission@gc.adventist.org
87
Lesson 11
*March 8-14
New-Covenant Sanctuary
Sabbath Afternoon
MEMORY VERSE: "Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant,
so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal
inheritance" (Hebrews 9:15, RSV).
A
MOONLESS EVENING,
the sky black like spilled ink, all cov-
ered Frank in shadow as he walked the empty urban streets.
After a while he heard footsteps behind him; someone follow-
ing in the darkness. Then the person caught up with him and said,
"Frank, the printer?"
"Yes, I am he. But how did you know?"
"Well," answered the stranger, "I don't know you. But I know your
brother very well, and even in the darkness your mannerisms, your way
of walking, your figure all reminded me so much of him I just as-
sumed that you were his brother, because he told me that he had one."
This story reveals a powerful truth regarding the Israelite sanctuary
service. It was, the Bible says, a shadow, a figure, an image of the real.
Nevertheless, there was enough in the shadows and images to clearly
foreshadow and reveal the truths they were supposed to represent: the
death and high-priestly ministry of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary.
THE WEEK AT A GLANCE: Why did God want the Israelites to build a
sanctuary? What does the sanctuary teach us about Christ as our
Substitute? What does Jesus do in heaven as our Representative?
*Please study this week's lesson to prepare for Sabbath, March 15.
88
Sunday
March 9
RELATIONSHIPS.
"And I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not
abhor you. And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall
be my people" (Lev. 26:11, 12).
0
ne point should be clear by now: Whether in the
old
covenant
or the
new
covenant, the Lord seeks a close, loving relationship
with His people. In fact, the covenants basically help form (for
lack of a better word) the "rules" for that relationship.
Relationship is crucial to the covenant, in whatever time or context.
Yet for a relationship to exist, there needs to be interaction, communica-
tion, and contact, particularly for sinful, fallible, doubting humans. The
Lord, of course, knowing this, took the initiative to be sure that He
would manifest Himself to us in ways so that we—within the confines
of fallen humanity—could relate to Him in a meaningful way.
Read Exodus 25:8, the Lord's command to Israel to build a sanctu-
ary. What reasons does the Lord give for wanting them to do this?
The answer to this question, of course, brings up another question,
and that is
Why?
Why does the Lord want to dwell in the midst of His
people?
The truth, perhaps, could be found in the two verses for today, listed
above. Notice, the Lord will "tabernacle" (or "dwell") among them;
He then says that He will not "abhor" them. He then says that He will
"walk" among them and will be their God, and they will be His people
(Lev. 26:11, 12). Look at the elements found in these texts. Again, the
relational aspect comes through very clearly.
Take a few minutes: Break down these two verses and write
down how the various elements all fit in with the notion that the
Lord seeks a relationship with His people.
Focus specifically on the phrase where the Lord
says
"my soul
shall not abhor you." What is it about the sanctuary itself that
provides the means by which fallen, sinful humankind can be ac-
cepted by the Lord, and why is that so important for the process of
forming a covenant?
89
Monday
March 10
SIN. SACRIFICE, AND ACCEPTANCE (Heb. 9:22, NIV).
T
he Divinely appointed way for the Old Testament sinner to rid
himself of sin and guilt was through animal sacrifices. The Israel-
ite sacrificial offerings are detailed in Leviticus 1 through 7.
Careful attention was paid to the use and disposal of the blood in the
various kinds of sacrifices. Indeed, the role of blood in sacrificial rituals
is one of the unifying features in the Israelite sacrifices.
The person who had sinned—and thus had broken the covenant
relationship and the law that regulated it—could be restored to full
fellowship with God and humanity by bringing an animal sacrifice as
a substitute. Sacrifices, with their rites, were the God-appointed means
to bring about cleansing from sin and guilt. They were instituted to
cleanse the sinner, transferring individual sin and guilt to the sanctu-
ary by sprinkling blood and reinstituting communion and full cov-
enantal fellowship of the penitent with the personal God who is the
saving Lord.
How do these concepts, expressed above, help us understand the
questions at the end of yesterday's lesson?
What prophetic significance was there in the animal sacrifice? Isa.
53:4-12; Heb. 10:4.
The Old Testament animal sacrifices were the divinely-ordained
means for ridding the sinner of sin and guilt. They changed the sinner's
status from that of guilty and worthy of death to that of forgiven and
reestablished in the covenantal God-human relationship. But there was
a sense in which the animal sacrifices were prophetic in nature. No
animal, after all, was an adequate substitute in atoning for humanity's
sin and guilt. The author of Hebrews states it in his own language: "It is
impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins"
(Heb. 10:4, RSV). Thus, an animal sacrifice was meant to be a looking
forward to the coming of the Divine-human Servant of God, who would
die a substitutionary death for the sins of the world. It is through this
process that the sinner is forgiven and accepted by the Lord, and the
basis of the covenant relationship is established.
Put yourself in the position of someone who lived in Old
Testament times, when they sacrificed animals at the sanctuary.
Remembering, too, just how important livestock was to their
economy, culture, and whole way of life, what lesson were these
sacrifices supposed to teach the people about the cost of sin?
90
Tuesday
March 11
THE SUBSTITUTION.
"Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from
this present evil world, according to the will of God and our
Father" (Gal. 1:4).
T
here is no question: One of the key themes (if not
the
key theme)
of the New Testament is that Jesus Christ died as the Sacrifice for
the sins of the world. This truth is the foundation of the entire
plan of salvation. Any theology that denies the blood atonement of
Christ denies the heart and soul of Christianity. A bloodless cross can
save no one.
Meditate upon the text for today and then answer these questions:
Did Jesus volunteer to die? For whom did He die? What would His
death accomplish?
Substitution is the key to the entire plan of salvation. Because of our
sins, we deserve to die. Christ, out of His love for us, "gave himself for
our sins" (Gal. 1:4). He died the death that we deserve. The death of
Christ as the Substitute for sinners is the great truth from which all
other truth flows. Our hope, that of restoration, of freedom, of forgive-
ness, of eternal life in paradise, rests upon the work that Jesus did, that
of giving Himself for our sins. Without that, our faith would be
meaningless. We might as well place our hope and trust in a statue of a
fish. Salvation comes only through blood, the blood of Christ.
Look up these few texts. What do they tell us about the blood?
Matt. 26:28; Eph. 2:13; Heb. 9:14; 1 Pet. 1:19. What role, then,
does blood play in the plan of salvation?
"It is not God's will that you should be distrustful, and torture your
soul with the fear that God will not accept you because you are sinful
and unworthy. . . . You can say: 'I know I am a sinner, and that is the
reason I need a Saviour. . . . I have no merit or goodness whereby I may
claim salvation, but I present before God the all-atoning blood of the
spotless Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. This is
my only plea.' "—Ellen G. White,
The Faith I Live By,
p. 102.
Dwell upon the Ellen White quote listed above. Rewrite it in your
own words. Make it personal. Put your own fears and pain in there
and then write down what the promises contained there give to you.
What hope do you have because of the blood of the new covenant?
91
Wednesday
March 12
THE NEW COVENANT—HIGH PRIEST.
T
he earthly sanctuary, where God chose to dwell with His people,
centered around the sacrifice of the animals. Yet, the service did
not end with the death of these creatures. The priest ministered
the blood in the sanctuary on behalf of the sinner
after the sacrifice
itself was killed.
This whole service, however, was only a shadow, a symbol, of what
Christ would do for the world. Thus, just as the symbols (the sanctuary
service) did not end with the death of the animal, Christ's work for us
did not end with His death on the cross, either.
Study for today Hebrews 8:1-6. Pray over the verses. Ask the
Lord to help you understand what is being said here and why it is
important for us to know it. After you are done, write down in
your own words what you think the Lord's message is to us in
these verses. Ask yourself, too, How do these verses help us under-
stand the new covenant?
Just as there was an earthly sanctuary, priesthood, and ministry
under the old covenant, so there is a heavenly sanctuary, a heavenly
priesthood, and heavenly ministry under the new covenant. What were,
however, only symbols, images, and a shadow (Heb. 8:5) in the old
covenant became a reality in the new.
Also, rather than an amoral animal as our substitute, we have the
sinless Jesus; rather than animal blood, we have the blood of Christ;
rather than a man-made sanctuary, we have the "true tabernacle, which
the Lord pitched, and not man" (Heb. 8:2); and rather than a sinful,
erring human priest, we have Jesus as our High Priest ministering on
our behalf. With all this in mind, think about Paul's words: "How
shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation . . . ?" (Heb. 2:3).
Think about it: Jesus lived a sinless life on your behalf, died
on your behalf, and is now in heaven, ministering in the sanc-
tuary on your behalf. All this was done in order to save you
from the terrible, final results of sin. Plan in the next day or so
to talk to someone about this wonderful news, someone whom
you think needs to hear it. Work out beforehand, based on
today's lesson, what you will say.
92
Thursday
March 13
HEAVENLY MINISTRY (Heb. 9:24).
S
tudy this text, particularly the context in which it is given, that
of explaining Christ's ministry in heaven for us after His
sacrificial death in our behalf. Though much can be said, we want
to focus on one point, the phrase at the end, which says that Christ now
appears in the presence of God for us.
Think about what that means. We, sinful, fallen humanity; we, who
would be consumed by the brightness of God's glory if we faced it
now; we, no matter how bad we have been or how blatantly have
violated God's holy law, have Someone who appears in the presence
of God
for us.
We have a Representative standing before the Father on
our behalf. Think of how loving, forgiving, and accepting Christ was
when here on earth.
This same Person is now our Mediator in heaven?
This is the other part of the good news. Not only did Jesus pay the
penalty for our sins, having taken them upon Himself at the Cross
(1 Pet. 2:24), but now He stands in the presence of God, a Mediator
between heaven and earth, between humanity and Divinity.
This makes perfect sense. Jesus, as both God and Man (a sinless,
perfect Man) is the only One who could bridge the gap between
humanity and God, caused by sin. The crucial point to remember in all
this (though there are many) is that there is now a Man, a Human
Being, who can relate to all our trials, pains, and temptations (Heb.
4:14, 15), representing us before the Father.
"For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the
man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in
due time" (1 Tim. 2:5, 6). What two roles does this text put Jesus in,
and how were these roles prefigured in the earthly-sanctuary service?
The great news of the new covenant is that now, because of Jesus,
repentant sinners have Someone representing them in heaven before
the Father; Someone who earned for them what they could never earn
for themselves, and that is perfect righteousness, the only righteous-
ness that can stand in the presence of God. Jesus, with that perfect
righteousness, wrought out in His life through suffering (Heb. 2:10),
stands before God, claiming for us forgiveness from sin and power over
sin, because without these we would have no hope, not now and
certainly not in the judgment.
Pray and meditate over the idea of a human being, Someone who
has experienced temptation to sin, standing before God in heaven.
What does that mean to you personally?
What kind of hope and encouragement does that bring?
93
Friday
March 14
FURTHER STUDY:
T
he highest angel in heaven had not the power to pay the ransom
for one lost soul. Cherubim and seraphim have only the glory
with which they are endowed by the Creator as His creatures,
and the reconciliation of man to God could be accomplished only
through a mediator who was equal with God, possessed of attributes
that would dignify, and declare him worthy to treat with the infinite
God in man's behalf, and also represent God to a fallen world. Man's
substitute and surety must have man's nature, a connection with the
human family whom he was to represent, and, as God's ambassador,
he must partake of the divine nature, have a connection with the
Infinite, in order to manifest God to the world, and be a mediator
between God and man." —Ellen G. White,
Selected Messages,
book
1, p. 257.
"Jesus continues: As you confess Me before men, so I will confess
you before God and the holy angels. You are to be My witnesses upon
earth, channels through which My grace can flow for the healing of
the world. So I will be your representative in heaven. The Father
beholds not your faulty character, but He sees you as clothed in My
perfection. I am the medium through which Heaven's blessings shall
come to you. And everyone who confesses Me by sharing My sacri-
fice for the lost shall be confessed as a sharer in the glory and joy of
the redeemed." —Ellen G. White,
The Desire of Ages,
p. 357.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1.
Read Romans 5:2, Ephesians 2:18, and Ephesians 3:12.
What are they saying that helps us understand our
access
to
the Father through Jesus?
2.
Look at the second Ellen White quote listed above. Notice how
she explains the role of mediator. When the Father looks at us,
He does not see our faulty character but Christ's perfection
instead. Dwell on what that means and discuss with the class.
3.
Looking at what we have studied this week, ask yourself
how you would answer this question: "OK, so Christ is in
the sanctuary in heaven. So what? What does that mean on
a daily, practical level?"
SUMMARY:
The old covenant—sacrificial system was replaced by
the new; instead of animals being sacrificed by sinful priests in an
earthly sanctuary, we now have Jesus, our perfect Sacrifice. He repre-
sents us before the Father in the sanctuary in heaven, which forms the
basis of the new covenant and its promises.
94
The Contrary Carpenter
Dorothy Eaton Watts
K. H. Lalla bent over the table he was sanding in his carpenter shop
in Chandel Village, intent on his work. Hearing footsteps, he looked
up to see two men approaching, dressed in coats and ties. He smiled,
thinking,
Maybe they will order some of my fine furniture!
The men watched for a few moments as Lalla worked. "You are a
Christian?" one of the men asked. Lalla nodded. He was proud of the
fact that he was one of the few of the Meite (MAY-tay) tribe of
Manipur (MAN-ee-POOR) who had become a Christian.
"Then why are you working on God's holy Sabbath day?" one of
the visitors asked.
Lalla stopped working, dropped his tools, and stood to face the
men. "What are you talking about?" he asked. "I don't work on the
Sabbath. Tomorrow is the Lord's day; today is Saturday." He glanced
at the calendar on his wall to be sure he had not made a mistake.
"According to the Bible, the seventh-day is the Sabbath day," said
the second visitor.
"It can't be!" Lalla almost shouted. "Every Christian I know goes
to church on Sunday!"
"We don't," the first visitor replied with a smile. "And there are
millions more like us who follow the Bible commandment to worship
on Saturday, the Sabbath day. If you let me, I can prove to you from
the Bible that today is the Sabbath." The visitor took out his Bible and
began to turn its pages.
"No. Not now," Lalla said. "I've got to finish this job. If you'll come to
my house this evening, we can talk then, but I don't have time right now."
The visitors thanked Lalla for his time and promised to return in the
evening. That evening the two visitors introduced themselves as
Goshen and Bethung, Adventist evangelists. The men sat together and
studied the Sabbath question for several hours. At last Lalla admitted,
"You are right. I can see it clearly. From now on I will worship God on
the seventh day."
K. H. Lalla kept his word. He closed his carpenter shop on Saturday
and began studying the Bible with the two men. Lalla was one of
almost five hundred people who were baptized in the Manipur/
Nagaland Section during 1999. This number is more than double the
number who joined the church in this region the year before. God's
message is spreading like wildfire in every corner of India.
Dorothy Eaton Watts is associate secretary of the Southern Asia
Division, Hosur, India.
Produced by the Office of Mission
Sabbath School-Personal Ministries department of the General Conference
Email: gomission@gc.adventist.org
Lesson 12
*March 15-21
Covenant Faith
Sabbath Afternoon
MEMORY VERSE: "But that no man is justified by the law in the
sight of God, it is evident: for, the just shall live by faith"
(Galatians 3:11).
A
BOUT SEVEN CENTURIES BEFORE CHRIST,
the poet Homer
wrote the
Odyssey,
the story of Odysseus the great warrior
who—after sacking the city of Troy in the Trojan war—began a ten-
year voyage to try to return to his native Ithaca. The voyage, too, took so long
because he faced shipwrecks, mutinies, storms, monsters, and other obstacles
that kept him from reaching his goal. Finally, after deciding that Odysseus
had suffered enough, the gods agreed to allow the weary warrior to return to
his home and family. His trials were, they agreed, enough atonement for his
mistakes.
In one sense, we are like Odysseus, on a long journey home. The
crucial difference, however, is that, unlike Odysseus, we can never
"suffer enough" to earn our way back. The distance between heaven
and earth is too great for us to atone for our mistakes. If we get home, it
would have to be only by the grace of God.
THE WEEK AT A GLANCE: Why must salvation be a gift? Why could
only Someone equal with God ransom our souls? What makes Abraham
such a good representative of faith? What does it mean that righteous-
ness is "imputed" or "credited" to us? How can we make the promises
and hope found in the Cross our own?
*Please study this week's lesson to prepare for Sabbath, March 22.
96
Sunday
March 16
REFLECTIONS OF CALVARY.
T
he Old Testament way of salvation under the Mosaic covenant is
no different from the New Testament way of salvation under the
new covenant. Whether in the Old or New Testament, old or new
covenant, salvation is by faith alone. If it was by anything else, such as
works, salvation would be something that was owed us, something the
Creator was obligated to give us. Only those who do not understand
the seriousness of sin could believe that God was under some obliga-
tion to save us. On the contrary. If anything, there was only one
obligation, and that was what we owed to the violated law. We, of
course, could not meet that obligation; fortunately, Jesus met it for us.
"When men and women can more fully comprehend the magnitude of
the great sacrifice which was made by the Majesty of heaven in dying in
man's stead, then will the plan of salvation be magnified, and reflections
of Calvary will awaken tender, sacred, and lively emotions in the Christian's
heart. Praises to God and the Lamb will be in their hearts and upon their
lips. Pride and self-esteem cannot flourish in the hearts that keep fresh in
memory the scenes of Calvary. . . . All the riches of the world are not of
sufficient value to redeem one perishing soul. Who can measure the love
Christ felt for a lost world as He hung upon the cross, suffering for the
sins of guilty men? This love was immeasurable, infinite.
"Christ has shown that His love was stronger than death. He was
accomplishing man's salvation; and although He had the most fearful
conflict with the powers of darkness, yet, amid it all, His love grew
stronger and stronger. He endured the hiding of His Father's counte-
nance, until He was led to exclaim in the bitterness of His soul: 'My God,
My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?' His arm brought salvation. The
price was paid to purchase the redemption of man, when, in the last soul
struggle, the blessed words were uttered which seemed to resound
through creation: 'It is finished.'
"The scenes of Calvary call for the deepest emotion. Upon this
subject you will be excusable if you manifest enthusiasm. That Christ,
so excellent, so innocent, should suffer such a painful death, bearing
the weight of the sins of the world, our thoughts and imaginations can
never fully comprehend. The length, the breadth, the height, the depth,
of such amazing love we cannot fathom. The contemplation of the
matchless depths of a Saviour's love should fill the mind, touch and
melt the soul, refine and elevate the affections, and completely trans-
form the whole character."—Ellen G. White,
Testimonies for the Church,
vol. 2, pp. 212, 213.
Pray over what Ellen White wrote here. Keeping these lines in
mind, read Galatians 6:14 and then ask yourself, In what ways can I
glory in the Cross of Christ?
97
Monday
March 17
THE COVENANT AND THE SACRIFICE.
"You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited
from your fathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold,
but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without
blemish or spot" (1 Pet. 1:18, 19, RSV).
What does Peter mean here when he says that
we were ransomed?
W
hen Peter speaks about Christ's atoning death on the cross,
the "ransom" or price idea to which he refers brings to mind
the ancient practice of a slave being freed from his bondage
after a price had been paid (often by a relative). In contrast, Christ
ransomed us from the slavery of sin and its final fruit, which is death,
but He did it with His "precious blood," His substitutionary and volun-
tary death on Calvary. Again, this is the foundation of all the cov-
enants: Without it, the covenant becomes null and void, because God
could not have justly fulfilled His end of the deal, which is the gift of
eternal life bestowed upon all who believe.
Look up the following
verses:
What message do all of them
share in common? Rom. 6:23; 1 John 5:11, 13.
We have this promise of eternal life, because Jesus alone could
repair that breach that first caused us to lose that eternal life. How?
Because the righteousness and infinite value of the Creator alone could
cancel the debt we owed to the broken law—that is how wide the breach
caused by sin was. After all, what would it say about the seriousness of
God's eternal moral law if some finite, temporal, and created being could
pay the penalty for violating it? Only Someone who is equal to God
Himself, in whom life existed unborrowed and underived and eternal,
could have paid the ransom required to free us from the debt owed to
the law. This is how all the covenant promises are fulfilled; this is how
we have the promise of eternal life, even now; this is how we have been
ransomed from sin and death.
Imagine that someone's child, in an art museum, throws a balloon
filled with ink on a Rembrandt painting and ruins it completely. The
painting is worth millions; the parents, even if they sold everything
they owed, could not come close to paying the debt owed. In what sense
does this image help us understand just how serious a breach sin has
caused, how helpless we are to fix it, and why only the Lord Himself
could pay the debt?
98
Tuesday
March 18
THE FAITH OF ABRAHAM: PART I.
"He believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteous-
ness" (Gen. 15:6).
T
his verse remains one of the most profound statements in all
Scripture. It helps establish the crucial truth of biblical religion,
that of justification by faith alone, and it does this long centuries
before Paul wrote about it in Romans. All of which helps prove the
point that from Eden onward, salvation always came the same way.
The immediate context of the verse helps us understand just how
great Abram's faith was, believing in God's promise of a son despite all
the physical evidence that would seem to make that promise impossible.
It is the kind of faith that realizes its own utter helplessness, the kind
of faith that demands a complete surrender of self, the kind of faith
that requires a total submission to the Lord, the kind of faith that
results in obedience. This was the faith of Abram, and it was counted
to him "as righteousness."
Why does the Bible
say
that it was "counted to" him or "credited to"
him as righteousness? Was Abram himself "righteous" in the sense
of God's righteousness? What did he do, not long after God declared
Him righteous, that helps us understand why this righteousness was
credited to him, as opposed to what he himself actually
was?
Gen.
16:14.
However much Abram's life was a life of faith and obedience, it
was not a life of perfect faith and perfect obedience. At times he
displayed weakness in both areas. (Does that sound like anyone you
know?) All of which leads to the crucial point, and that is: The
righteousness that saves us is a righteousness that is credited to us, a
righteousness that is (to use a fancy theological term)
imputed
to us.
This means that we are declared righteous in the sight of God, despite
our faults; it means that the God of heaven views us as righteous even
if we are not. This is what He did with Abram, and this is what He will
do to all who come to Him in "the faith of Abraham" (Rom. 4:16).
Read Romans 4:1-7. Look at the context in which Paul uses
Genesis 15:6. Pray over those verses and write out in your own
words what you believe they are saying to you.
99
Wednesday
March 19
THE FAITH OF ABRAHAM: PART 2.
L
ooking again at Genesis 15:6, we can see that various transla-
tions have rendered the term
counted
(Hebrew,
hasab)
or "reck-
oned" or "credited" (RSV, NIV) or "accounted."
The same term is employed in other texts in the books of Moses. A
person or a thing is "reckoned" or "regarded" as something that person
or thing is not. For instance, in Genesis 31:15, Rachel and Leah affirm
that their father "reckons" ("regards" or "counts") them as strangers,
although they are his daughters. The tithe of the Levite is "reckoned"
("regarded" or "counted") as though it were the corn of the threshing
floor, although it is obviously not the corn (Num. 18:27, 30, NIV).
How is the idea of reckoning expressed in the context of sacrifices?
Lev. 7:18; 17:1-4.
The KJV uses the word
imputed
to translate
hasab.
If a particular
sacrifice ("peace offering") is not eaten by the third day, its value is
lost, and it shall not be "reckoned" (Lev. 7:18, NASB; Hebrew,
hasab)
to the benefit of the offerer. Leviticus 7:18 speaks of a situation in
which a sacrifice is "reckoned" to the benefit of the sinner (compare
Lev. 17:1-4, NASB) who then stands before God in righteousness.
God is accounting the sinner as righteous, although the individual is
actually unrighteous.
Take some time to dwell on this wonderful truth that we, despite our
faults, can be accounted, or credited, as righteous in the sight of God.
Write out in your own words your understanding of what this means.
The great truth, that of being declared righteous, not because of
any act that we can do but only because of faith in what Christ has
done for us, this is the essence of the phrase "righteousness by
faith." Yet, it is not that our faith itself makes us righteous; rather,
faith is the vehicle by which we obtain the gift of righteousness.
This, in essence, is the beauty, the mystery, and the glory of Chris-
tianity. All that we believe as Christians, as followers of Christ,
finds an important root in this wonderful concept. Through faith, we
are accounted righteous in the sight of God. All else that follows;
obedience, sanctification, holiness, character development, love, should
stem from this crucial truth.
How do you respond to someone who seeks to be a Christian
yet
says, "But I don't feel righteous"?
100
Thursday
March 20
RESTING ON THE PROMISES.
T
here is a story told about the famous Cardinal Bellarmine, the
great Catholic apologist who all his life fought the message of
justification by an imputed righteousness alone. As he lay dy-
ing, he was brought the crucifixes and the merits of the saints to help
give him assurance before death. But Bellarmine said, "Take it away. I
think it's safer to trust in the merits of Christ."
For many people as they near the end of their lives, they look back
and see how vain, how futile, how useless their deeds and their works
are for earning salvation with a holy God, and thus how much they need
the righteousness of Christ.
Yet the good news is that we don't have to wait for the approach of
death to have security in the Lord now. The whole covenant is based on
the secure promises of God now, promises for us now, and promises
that can make our lives better now.
Look up the following verses and answer the question asked
with each one in the context of developing, keeping, and strength-
ening your covenant relationship with God:
Ps. 34:8 (How can you taste God's goodness?)
Matt. 11:30 (What is it about what Christ has done for us that
makes this yoke
easy?)
Rom. 5:1 (What
does justification have to do with peace?)
Phil. 2:7 (What have you gained from your Christian experience?)
Prayerfully examine your life and ask yourself, What things
am I doing that are strengthening my relationship with God, and
what things are hurting it? What changes do I need to make?
101
Friday
March 21
FURTHER STUDY:
T
he only way in which he [the sinner] can attain to righteousness
is through faith. By faith he can bring to God the merits of Christ,
and the Lord places the obedience of His Son to the sinner's
account. Christ's righteousness is accepted in place of man's failure,
and God receives, pardons, justifies, the repentant, believing soul,
treats him as though he were righteous, and loves him as He loves His
Son. This is how faith is accounted righteousness."—Ellen G. White,
Selected Messages,
book 1, p. 367.
"When through repentance and faith we accept Christ as our Sav-
iour, the Lord pardons our sins, and remits the penalty prescribed for
the transgression of the law. The sinner then stands before God as a
just person; he is taken into favor with Heaven, and through the Spirit
has fellowship with the Father and the Son.
"Then there is yet another work to be accomplished, and this is of a
progressive nature. The soul is to be sanctified through the truth. And
this also is accomplished through faith. For it is only by the grace of
Christ, which we receive through faith, that the character can be trans-
formed."—Ellen G. White,
Selected Messages,
book 3,
p. 191.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1.
What distinction is made between a living and a dead faith? See
James 2:17, 18. How does Paul describe a living faith? Rom.
16:26. What is the key word that helps reveal what faith en-
tails?
2.
How do you respond to the argument (which comes with a cer-
tain logical consistency) that if we are saved only by a credited
righteousness, not a righteousness that exists within us, then
it does not matter what we do or how we act?
3.
"Our acceptance with God is sure only through His be-
loved Son, and good works are but the result of the work-
ing of His sin-pardoning love. They are no credit to us,
and we have nothing accorded to us for our good works by
which we may claim a part in the salvation of our souls....
He [the believer] cannot present his good works as a plea
for the salvation of his soul."—Ellen G. White,
Selected
Messages,
book 3, p. 199. Keeping this statement by Ellen
White in mind, why, then, are good works such a crucial
part of the Christian experience?
SUMMARY:
Old covenant, new covenant: Jesus paid the debt owed by
the law, so that we can stand righteous in the sight of God.
102
AdOK Amt.
Shortwave Becomes Teacher's Teacher
Salai Thang Mana Law
Salai Thang Mana Law is an elementary school teacher who
lives in an isolated village in Myanmar. The village is almost one
hundred miles from the nearest town and is so isolated that the
people must walk four or five days to reach the nearest road,
carrying all their supplies with them.
Of the 25 households in the village, everyone is an animist
except Thang. Thang considered himself a Christian, though he
had little knowledge of the Bible or plan of salvation.
Besides his infrequent trips to the nearest town, Thang's only
contact with the outside world is his shortwave radio. One day he
discovered Adventist World Radio. As he listened, he felt the love
of God touch his life. He treasured the stories and songs he heard
on the radio.
In time Thang wrote to the AWR staff. "I am totally changed,"
he said, "different from my former self. The lessons I have heard
have brought me closer to God and helped me to understand His
word. I love God more every day."
Thang wanted to share what he was learning with his students
at the elementary school. He began teaching them choruses he had
learned from the radio, such as "Jesus Loves Me." He told them
Bible stories about Creation, Moses, Abraham, David, Samson,
Daniel, and especially about the love of Jesus Christ.
The children began sharing what they were learning about
Christ with their parents. "Now the parents and even the village
chief want to know more about Jesus the Savior," Thang reported.
"I am sure that nearly everyone in the village will accept Christ as
their personal Savior when they have a chance to learn more."
Thang's enthusiasm for the gospel bubbled over. "Your Adventist
World Radio program is great! I love it! It is my daily bread." He
then made a request. "I need someone to come and teach the
people of my village more about the love of Jesus. The harvest is
ready, but we have no one to teach us. Who will come?"
Who, indeed, will come? Adventist World Radio has opened
the door of the people in Thang's isolated village. Pray that some-
one will be able to go and carry on the work started by one
shortwave radio in an isolated village.
Salai Thang Mana Law lives in Pwe-Saung Village, Min-Tat
Township, Chin State, Myanmar.
Produced by the Office of Mission
Sabbath School-Personal Ministries department of the General Conference
Email: gomission@gc.adventist.org
103
Lesson 13
*March 22-28
The New-Covenant Life
Sabbath Afternoon
MEMORY VERSE: "I am come that they might have life, and that
they might have it more abundantly" (John 10:10).
T
HIS QUARTER HAS BEEN A STUDY ON THE COVENANT,
which (to pare it down to its simplest, purest form) is, basically,
God saying,
This is how I will save you from sin, period.
Though the outcome, the grand finale of the covenant promise, is, of
course, eternal life in a world made new, we do not have to wait for it to
enjoy the covenant blessings today. The Lord cares about our lives
now;
He wants the best for us
now.
The covenant is not some deal
where you do this and this and this and then, a long way off, you will
get your reward. The rewards, the gifts—they are blessings that those
who by faith enter into the covenant relation can enjoy here and now.
This week's lesson, the final in our series on the covenant, looks at
some of these immediate blessings, some of the promises that come
from God's grace shed into our hearts because, having heard Him
knock, we have opened the door. Of course, there are more blessings
than what we can touch on this week. But it is just a start, a start of
something that will, indeed, never end.
THE WEEK AT A GLANCE: Why should we feel joy? On what basis
can we claim that promise? What is it about the covenant that should
free us from the burden of guilt? What does it mean to have a new
heart?
*Please study this week's lesson to prepare for Sabbath, March 29.
104
Sunday
March 23
JOY.
"And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full"
(1 John 1:4).
L
ook at what John wrote here. In a few simple words, he expresses
what should be one of the great advantages we, as covenant
people, have—and that is the promise of joy.
As Christians, we are often told not to go by feeling, that faith is not
feeling, and that we need to get beyond our feelings, all of which is true.
But at the same time, we would not be human beings if we were not
creatures of feelings, emotions, and moods. We cannot deny our feel-
ings; what we need to do is understand them, give them their proper
role, and, as much as possible, keep them under control. But to deny
them is to deny what it means to be human (we might as well tell a circle
not to be round). Indeed, as this verse says, not only should we have
feelings (in this case joy) but they should be full. It hardly sounds as if
feelings are to be denied, does it?
Read the context of the above verse, starting at the beginning of the
chapter. What was John writing to the early Christians that he hoped
would make their joy full? And why should it give them joy?
John was one of the original Twelve. He was there, almost from
the start of Christ's three-and-a-half-year ministry, a witness to
some of the most amazing things of Jesus (he was there at the Cross,
at Gethsemane, and at the Transfiguration, as well). Thus, as an
eyewitness, he was certainly well-qualified to talk about this subject.
Yet, notice, too, that the emphasis is not on himself; it is on what
Jesus had done for the disciples so they can now have fellowship not
only with each other but with God Himself. Jesus has opened the way
for us to enter into this close relationship with the Lord; and, one result
of this fellowship—this relationship—is joy. John wants them to know
that what they have heard about Jesus is true (he saw, touched, felt,
and heard Him), and thus they, too, can enter into a joyful relationship
with their heavenly Father, who loves them and gave Himself through
His Son for them.
In a certain sense, John is giving his own personal testimony.
What is your testimony regarding your relationship with Jesus?
What could you
say
that could help increase someone's joy in the
Lord, as John sought to do here?
105
Monday
March 24
GUILT FREE.
"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in
Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit"
(Rom. 8:1).
A
young woman had been brutally murdered, her killer unknown.
The police, setting a trap, placed a hidden microphone in her
grave. One evening, many months after her death, a young man
approached the grave and, kneeling and weeping, begged the woman for
forgiveness. The police, of course, monitoring his words, nabbed him
for the crime.
What drove the man to the grave? It was guilt, what else?
Of course, none of us (we hope) has ever done anything as bad as
what that young man did. We all are guilty, we all have done things we
are ashamed of, things we wish we could undo but cannot.
Thanks to Jesus and the blood of the new covenant, none of us has
to live under the stigma of guilt. According to the text for today, there is
no condemnation against us. The ultimate Judge counts us as not
guilty, counts us as if we have not done the things we feel guilty about.
How do these verses help us understand the text for today? John
5:24; Rom. 3:24, 25; 2 Cor. 5:21.
One of the great promises of living in a covenant relationship with
the Lord is that we no longer have to live under the burden of guilt.
Because of the blood of the covenant, we—who choose to enter into
that covenant relationship with God, who choose to abide by the
conditions of faith, repentance, and obedience—can have the burden
of guilt lifted. When Satan seeks to whisper in our ears that we are evil,
that we are bad, that we are too sinful to be accepted by God, we can do
what Jesus did when Satan tempted Him in the wilderness: We can
quote Scripture, and one of the best of all verses to quote is Romans 8:1.
This does not mean denying the reality of sin in our lives; it means,
instead, because of the covenant relationship we have with the Lord,
we no longer live under the condemnation of that sin. Jesus paid the
penalty for us, and He now stands in the presence of the Father
pleading His own blood on our behalf, presenting His own righteous-
ness instead of our sins.
What difference does it make in your life that the Lord has
forgiven you for whatever sins you might have committed? How does
that reality help you in dealing with others who have sinned against
you? How should it impact the way you deal with those people?
106
Tuesday
March 25
NEW COVENANT AND NEW HEART.
"That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted
and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is
the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of
Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the
fulness of God" (Eph. 3:17-19).
A
s earlier lessons this quarter showed, the new covenant is one
in which the Lord puts the law in our hearts (Jer. 31:31-33). Not
only is the law there, but according to the texts for today, Christ
is, as well, which, of course, makes good sense, for Christ and His law
are so closely connected. Thus, with Christ's law in our hearts, and with
Christ dwelling there, too (the Greek word translated in the above text
dwell
means also "to settle in," giving the idea of permanency), we
come to another one of the great covenant benefits—a new heart.
Why do we need a new heart? What changes will be manifested in
those who have a new heart?
Read again the text for today. Notice that Paul stresses the element of
love, saying that we must be "rooted and grounded" in it. These words
imply stability, firmness, and permanency in the foundation of love.
Our faith means nothing if it is not rooted in love for God and love for
others (Matt. 22:37-39; 1 Corinthians 13). This love does not come in a
vacuum. On the contrary, it comes because we get a glimpse of God's
love for us (a love that "passeth understanding") as manifested through
Jesus. As a result, our lives are changed, our hearts are changed, and we
become new people with new thoughts, new desires, and new goals. It is
our reaction to God's love for us that changes our hearts and instills love
for others. Perhaps this is what Paul means, at least partially, when he
talks about us being filled with "the fullness of God."
Read 1 John 4:16. How does this text relate to what Paul has written
in Ephesians 3:17-19?
Look at texts we have studied today. What can you do that will
allow the promises of these texts to be fulfilled in you? Are there
things you need to change, things that are perhaps hampering you
from experiencing the "fulness of God" (Eph. 3:19)? Make a list of
what changes you need to make in your life. Make one for yourself
and, if you are comfortable, make one that you could share with the
class. How can you help one another make necessary changes?
107
Wednesday
March 26
NEW COVENANT AND ETERNAL LIFE.
" 'I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live,
even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never
die' " (John 11:25, 26, NIV).
T
here are two dimensions to eternal life. The
present
dimension
brings to the believer an experience of the abundant life now
(John 10:10), which includes the many promises we have been
given for our lives now.
The
future
dimension is, of course, eternal life—the promise of the
resurrection of the body (John 5:28, 29; 6:39). Though still in the future,
that is the one event that makes everything else worth it, the one event
that caps all our hopes as Christians.
Study the verse for today. What is Jesus saying here? Where is
eternal life found? How do we understand His words that those who live
and believe in Him, even if they die, will never die? (See Rev. 2:11;
20:6, 14; 21:8.)
Of course, we all die, but according to Jesus, this death is only a
sleep, a temporary hiatus that—for those who believe in Him—will end
in the resurrection of life. When Christ returns, the dead in Christ will
rise immortal, and the living followers of Christ will, in the twinkling of
an eye, be changed into immortality. Both the dead and the living who
are Christ's will possess the same kind of resurrection body. Immortal-
ity begins at that time for God's people.
What a great joy to know now that our end is not in the grave but
that there is no end, that we will have a new life that lasts forever.
"Christ became one flesh with us, in order that we might become
one spirit with Him. It is by virtue of this union that we are to come
forth from the grave,—not merely as a manifestation of the power of
Christ, but because, through faith, His life has become ours. Those
who see Christ in His true character, and receive Him into the heart,
have everlasting life. It is through the Spirit that Christ dwells in us;
and the Spirit of God, received into the heart by faith, is the beginning
of the life eternal."—Ellen G. White,
The Desire of Ages,
p. 388.
In what ways can we now enjoy the benefits of eternal life? In other
words, what does this promise do for us now? Write down some of the
benefits this promise of eternal life gives to you, personally, in your
day-to-day life. How could you take this hope and promise and share
it with someone who is struggling, perhaps with the death of a loved
one?
108
Thursday
March 27
NEW COVENANT AND MISSION.
"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded
you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world"
(Matt. 28:19, 20).
A
c
11 over the world, people often struggle with what South Afri-
an writer Laurens Van Der Post called "the burden of mean-
.
nglessness." People find themselves with the gift of life, yet they
do not know what to do with it, do not know what the purpose of this gift
is, and don't know how to use it. It is like giving someone a library filled
with rare books, only to have the person not read the books but use them
to build fires. What a terrible waste of something so precious!
For the new-covenant Christian, however, that problem is not one
they need to struggle with. On the contrary. Those who know (and
having personally experienced) the wonderful news of a crucified and
risen Savior, who died for the sins of every human being everywhere
that they all might have eternal life, know joy. Considering the un-
equivocal call in Matthew 28:19, 20, the believer certainly has a mission
and purpose in life, and that is to spread to the world the wonderful truth
he or she has personally experienced in Christ Jesus. What a privilege!
Most anything else we do in this world will end when this world does.
But spreading the gospel to others is a work that will make an imprint on
eternity. Talk about a sense of mission and purpose!
Break down the verses for today in their various elements.
What are the specific things Jesus is telling us to do, and what is
involved in each one? What promise do we have that should give
us the faith and courage to do what Christ commands?
As new-covenant Christians, we have been given a clear man-
date by the Lord Himself. Whoever we are, whatever our station
in life, whatever our limits, we can all play a role. Have you been
doing anything? Can you do more? What can your class do,
together, to have a greater role in this work?
109
Friday
March 28
FURTHER STUDY:
Ellen G. White,
The Great Controversy,
pp. 635-645;
Steps to Christ,
pp. 115-126.
T
he holy Son of God has no sins or griefs of His own to bear: He
was bearing the griefs of others; for on Him was laid the iniquity
of us all.
Through divine sympathy He connects Himself with
man, and
as the representative of the race He submits to be treated as a
transgressor.
He looks into the abyss of woe opened for us by our sins,
and proposes to bridge the gulf of man's separation from God." —Ellen
G. White Comments,
The SDA Bible Commentary,
vol. 7A, p. 462.
"Come, my brother, come just as you are, sinful and polluted. Lay
your burden of guilt on Jesus, and by faith claim His merits. Come now,
while mercy lingers; come with confession, come with contrition of
soul, and God will abundantly pardon. Do not dare to slight another
opportunity. Listen to the voice of mercy that now pleads with you to
arise from the dead that Christ may give you light. Every moment now
seems to connect itself directly with the destinies of the unseen world.
Then let not your pride and unbelief lead you to still further reject
offered mercy. If you do you will be left to lament at the last: 'The
harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.' "—Ellen
G. White,
Testimonies for the Church, vol.
5, p. 353.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1.
"We see ourselves in relation to the cosmos," wrote Francisco
Jose Moreno, "and we are aware of our ignorance and
final powerlessness; hence our insecurity. As a result, we
fear."—Between Faith and Reason: Basic Fear and the
Human Condition
(New York: Harper & Row, Publishers,
1977), p. 7. Compare this statement with what you studied
this week in Ephesians 3:17-19. Discuss the differences
between the two sentiments.
2.
God promises us joy as believers in Jesus. Is joy the same as
happiness? Should we always be happy? If we are not, is there
something wrong with our Christian experience? What can the
life of Jesus reveal that will help us understand the answers to
these questions?
3.
Discuss further this idea of being filled with "the fulness of
God" (Eph. 3:19). What does that mean? How can we experience
this in our lives?
SUMMARY:
The covenant is not just some deep theological concept;
instead, it defines the parameters of our saving relationship with Christ,
a relationship that reaps us wonderful benefits now and at His return.
110
AI\
Prayer Opens a Prison Door
J. H. Zachary
In India some thieves broke into a home and demanded that the
elderly woman who lived there give them her jewelry and money.
When the woman resisted, the robbers killed her. Then they noticed
Rathi, the dead woman's house girl, in the house. She had no money,
so they beat her and locked her in a room.
Police investigated the murder and learned that Rathi had been in
the house that day. They arrested her, and she was tried. In spite of a
lack of evidence, the judge found Rathi guilty of the woman's death
and sentenced her to prison.
Locked in her jail cell, Rathi prayed to her family's and her village
gods. "Please help me," she begged. "You know I did not kill that
woman." But years passed without any answer to her countless prayers.
Rathi became discouraged. It seemed that no one would help her.
Then two lay Bible workers began working in Rathi's home vil-
lage. One day as they visited from home to home, they heard the sad
story of Rathi. The next day they went to the jail to visit her.
They shared with Rathi the story of Jesus. They told her how Christ
had spent his life helping others. Rathi was amazed that God Himself,
who could heal the sick and still the forces of nature, would take time
to touch people's lives. "Do you think that your Jesus can help me?"
she asked hopefully. "I did nothing to deserve being here in jail."
The two lay workers told her that Jesus answers prayer and then
offered an earnest prayer that Rathi would be released. "Thank you for
visiting me," she said as they departed.
The next day Rathi was set free. She learned that the police had
captured a gang of thieves who had confessed to killing Rathi's
employer. Rathi returned home convinced that God had stepped down
into her life and answered her visitors' prayer. "For more than three
years I prayed to the idols, and nothing happened," she told people.
"But after just one prayer to Jesus, I was set free the next day."
Rathi's happy family invited the two lay workers to come to their
home to tell them more about Jesus. Bible studies were started, and
Rathi's entire family has been baptized. Rathi volunteered to become a
Bible worker and has won several families to the Lord. Because the local
mission is facing serious financial problems, they can give Rathi only 200
rupees (about $4.45) a month. Her entire village is now receptive to the
message of Jesus, who listens to their prayers and answers them.
J. H. Zachary is coordinator of international evangelism for The
Quiet Hour.
Produced by the Office of Mission
Sabbath School-Personal Ministries department of the General Conference
Email: gomission@gc.adventistorg
1 I 1
Bible Study Guide for Second Quarter, 2003
Forgiveness. It is more than just a word. This quarter we will study
forgiveness from two perspectives. First, we look at what it means to
be forgiven by God. Second, as a result of that forgiveness, we will
look at what happens in the lives of those who have been forgiven.
Lesson 1: God and Forgiveness
THE WEEK AT A GLANCE:
Sunday:
An Eternal Love.
Monday:
Confession (1 John 1:9).
Tuesday: "
'Friend, Your Sins Are Forgiven' " (Luke 5:18-20, NIV).
Wednesday:
Forgiveness Greater Than Sin (Rom. 5:20).
Thursday:
God's Forgiveness Illustrated (Matt. 18:21, 22).
MEMORY TEXT:
Romans 5:8.
SABBATH GEM: One of the most amazing truths of the Bible is
God's willingness to forgive the worst of sinners.
Lesson 2: Forgiveness in the Hebrew Bible
THE WEEK AT A GLANCE:
Sunday:
The Forgiving God (Ps. 78:38).
Monday:
To Bear, To Cleanse, To Forgive.
Tuesday:
The Lord Repents (Exod. 32:1-14).
Wednesday:
Loving the Unlovable: Part 1 (Hos. 1:2).
Thursday:
Loving the Unlovable: Part 2 (Hos. 3).
MEMORY TEXT:
Exodus 34:6, 7.
SABBATH GEM:
We will look at the deep riches of God's forgiving
nature as revealed by some of the books of the Hebrew Bible.
Lessons for the Visually Impaired
The regular Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide is available
free each month in braille and on audiocassette to sight-impaired and
physically handicapped persons who cannot read normal ink print.
This includes individuals who, because of arthritis, multiple sclerosis,
paralysis, accident, old age, and so forth, cannot hold or focus on
normal ink-print publications. Contact Christian Record Services, Box
6097, Lincoln, NE 68506-0097.
112
Get more from this
quarter's Sabbath
School lesson
Read
The Promise,
the companion book to
the Adult Sabbath School Lesson for first
quarter, 2003
Originally published in 1982 under the title,
Covenant in Blood, The Promise
is a revised
edition of Dr. Gerhard F. Hasel's classic work
on the meaning of the biblical covenants.
What is man's responsi-
bility in salvation? What
kind of works must he do
to please God? Or, is it a
matter of believing a list
of doctrines about Jesus
Christ? What is the basis
of Christian assurance?
You owe it to yourself to
read this book and know
the sure foundation on
which you stand as a
redeemed child of God.
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262/25590
SOUTH AMERICAN
DIVISION
Mission Projects:
1 Construct 25 chapels in eight
large cities in Chile.
2 Evangelistic thrust in newly
formed Southern Mission of
Chile; build 10 chapels.
3 Construct 10 chapels/churches
in previously unentered cities of
South Brazil.
4 Girls' dormitory at Santa
Catarina Adventist Academy in
South Brazil.
BRAZIL
Pacific
Ocean
Atlantic
Ocean
Unions
Churches
Companies
Membership
Population
Austral
503
299
95,956
45,870,000
Bolivia
245
664
101,015
8,300,000
Central Brazil
966
1,059
230,684
47,650,000
Chile
490
215
100,996
15,211,000
East Brazil
748
822
137,019
37,430,000
Ecuador
84
274
42,377
1,647,000
North Brazil
938
1,330
353,217
15,315,000
Northeast Brazil
810
1,204
201,867
42,530,000
Peru
1,296
2,187
518,067
27.140.000
South Brazil
659
789
141,175
27,225,000
Totals
6,739
8,843
1.922.373
268,318,000
(December 31, 2001)
iii
iu